#I have now been compared to all three of my own characters and two tumblr sexymen

[lu-the-artist]

Jevil, Mew and Lucario

LOL JEVIL TOO??? tbh it’s accurate haha

[quill-firefly]

The Sight of Stars Through a Gilded Cage (SG TFOne AU Fanfic)

I have finished all the training to secure my job so I am officially employed now, yippee.

I am very tired skskks I am writing this after an entire day of job training, which isn't good cause my brain is very tired and words are hard. But I wanted to write something that will make me at least a little happy (as a treat for the long exhausting day).

To help in reading, essentially there's three sections. First section is the present, second section is the past, and third section is like really far back in the past. So it's chronologically backwards.

Anyway, as can be apparent from most of my Shattered Glass fics which feature Starscream, I am a father/mentor-figure Starscream truther (at least for TFOne and thank you storyboards for feeding that agenda hahaha). On Tumblr, since I did receive two new writing requests about platonic yanderes, I'm writing this fic as a sort of indulgence for myself and to help practice writing platonic yanderes (cause different vibes from romantic yanderes). Now, why did I write this in the Shattered Glass AU instead of just the normal universe? Because I like making SG!Megatron suffer (this is what happens to my favorite characters lmao). Also I need to practice in writing SG!Starscream because I prefer to have my SG TFOne AU keep some semblance of their canonical personality and I feel I might be leaning too much into the SG comics for inspiration instead of the TFOne characters themselves.

Also, it's not that important but I do ship Starscream and Megatronus Prime now (even though they never interact in the movie because one of them is dead HAHAHA) because I don't know I feel like those two probably worked closely together before Megatronus Prime died (and because there's no Skyfire in TFOne so I can't go to my automatic ship HAHAHA). I only point this out cause it's in the tags, and also Starscream can't help but see Megatronus Prime in Dee (mostly because I keep seeing those silly posts on Tumblr where people joke Dee is Megatronus Prime's secret love child and it makes me laugh at the thought - and it isn't helped that my SG!Megatron could fly and technically modelled his transformation cog after Starscream's… so ya know the accidental implication I have made is funny). Also also, I saw a Tumblr post (WHICH I LOST DAMNIT BUT GOD WHOEVER POSTED THAT COOKED) where like they compared Startronus as Rose x Pearl and Megatron as Steven and it was so good skskksksk

Also this is somewhat related to "The Prime from Another Universe" but not really, I'm just using the same concept of Dee wanting to leave Cybertron and just travel the stars - but here he's guilt-tripped into staying.

TW: Platonic Yandere Stuff

When you are banished from the only home you’ve ever known, where do you go?

Dee thought he had a home.

Pax had been his home.

Then he met Prime, and Dee realized he never had a home. 

He had carved a place for himself inside Pax’s spark and called it home, but to the other mech, Dee would never have been enough. He had wanted more, not that Dee could resent him for it now. It was for the best that they parted.

Pax could have his dream, and Dee could have his.

Yet even now, the stars continue to slip through his digits.

Was it the moral core in his processor that grounded him, or the golden cage he’d willingly chosen to enter?

Now… Dee thought that wasn’t fair.

After he had fruitlessly battled Pax to save a mech Dee didn’t think deserved to live anyway, Starscream had generously taken him in knowing that the rough terrain of the surface would have eventually killed him.

Dee was not a survivor. Never had been.

He had followed Sentinel’s words without doubt. He kept his helm low, and never questioned the system they had been placed within.

Pax was the survivor.

That’s why Primus chose him.

And it’s why Pax would never have stayed with Dee. He would have never settled for a life he thought he didn’t deserve.

Even with the rule of a new Prime, there was nothing stopping Dee from leaving. The Quintessons had been defeated. All that remained was Optimus Prime and the tyranny he posed.

He couldn’t leave though.

He owed too much to the High Guard to abandon them.

He owed it to Starscream. After everything, he owed it to him the most…

Besides, he already asked Starscream once.

He tried to ask.

Once.

—

Starscream couldn’t help but keep both his optics on his new responsibility.

Starscream had been older than Dee when he had first applied to the High Guard. It had been a decision he had made, and a choice he would never regret. He had chosen to fight for the planet he loved.

A war was no place for a mech so young.

When Starscream could force his anger down, even he felt sorry for the new Prime. Ambitious as Orion Pax may have been, Starscream knew the young mech was not ready for the responsibility of being a Prime and the Matrix-holder.

The Thirteen Primes had been vastly older and Starscream had to deal with their tantrums.

Well not all of them.

Megatronus had been…

He had been wonderful.

The kindest and strongest mech he had ever known. A true warrior of both the body and the spark. Starscream would have laid down his life for his Prime if Megatronus had ever allowed him to.

How many lunar cycles did they spend together? Megatronus Prime would always whisper to him - as though it was their secret - that he wished his fellow Primes were not so wrathful and so power hungry.

Starscream missed him—

“Starscream?”

He shook his helm, forcing a scowl to his faceplate as he turned to the younger mech. They were both in the medical bay, and if Dee hadn’t been the medic assigned during this particular joor, Starscream might have put up more of a fight. He never did like being grounded. Also, it didn’t help that the only other medic around was Shockwave who would have fussed over Starscream as if he was a sparkling and not the Commander of the High Guard.

“What? I told you and those pain-in-the-aft trine brothers of mine that the scratches in my wings did not need repairs!” It had been nothing more than a scuffle between him and one of the Prime’s scouts. Really, Thundercracker and Skywarp had given him more pain by dragging him to the medical bay. “This is a waste of medical resources—”

“...That wasn’t what I was going to say.” Dee muttered, the words low in his vocoder that Starscream’s audials nearly missed it.

“Is your shift over? If it is then let me out, I don’t want to deal with Shockwave.” He rolled his optics. Shockwave’s high empathy was the reason why Starscream made him medic… but Primus knows that the other mech meddled too much.

“That wasn’t what I was going to say but… Starscream, as the leader of the High Guard, I don’t think it’s a waste to use our medical resources on you.” The younger mech’s blue optics met his own, a hardness in his eyes. “When I was a miner, medical supplies were abundant but it would cost us our energon rations if we were to be sent to the medical bay. I know you want to keep the High Guard functioning by conserving resources, but I don’t think depriving anyone of medical assistance will help. Especially if you deprive yourself, Commander.”

“Is that anyway to talk to your superior officer?” A growl tore through his vocoder, though both mechs knew it held no threat. 

He held too much of a softspark for his new responsibility.

“Starscream, you deserve to live for yourself too.”

‘You shouldn’t throw your life away for mine.’

Starscream nearly fell off the medical berth. He placed a servo to his helm, surprised to hear the voice of a mech long dead. Slowly, he turned his optics to a startled Dee, who watched him with a concerned gaze.

He hated that this wasn’t the first time Megatronus Prime’s ghost had come to haunt him.

He had spent fifty cycles trying to forget what he had lost, and yet all of that effort was thrown away the moment this… this…

Starscream hated how the young mech reminded him too much of Megatronus.

Maybe it was the stupid helm shape. 

But mostly it was the personality, and that they both had wanted a world where they could live in peace.

What Starscream hated the most was that he had allowed Dee to study his transformation cog, because now—

“Starscream?”

His processor halted in its thoughts, and Starscream remembered himself. He focused all his attention back on the younger mech - whose blue optics had lowered, as though the ground was suddenly interesting.

“What?” He couldn’t stop the irritation from seeping into his voice, though they both knew it was never real.

“Now that the war with the Quintessons is over… and if only because of you that I have the ability to transform and fly… I wanted…” The young mech finally met his optics, and a sense of dread made the spark in his chassis grow cold. “Forgive me, but I wish to leave Cybertron—”

“Have you lost your processor?!” His voice went shrill and before he knew it, his servos were gripping onto the younger mech’s shoulder pads, the metal creaking underneath his strength. “The Quintessons may not be attacking the surface of Cybertron, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t waiting in orbit!”

“You heard the decree they sent out. They won’t be coming back. Not after everything that Prime did.” Dee shuddered in his hold, though Starscream truly couldn’t tell if it was fear of the horrors they had witnessed the new Prime commit or if he was… scared of Starscream himself.

He loosened his grip, guilt already gnawing at his spark.

“We don’t know that.”

But Starscream did.

The death of the Thirteen Primes had incentivized the Quintessons into staying and forcing Sentinel into serving them. But with the return of a new Prime, one somehow worse than all thirteen combined, the Quintessons wouldn’t dare to come back. 

After all, they only forced Sentinel into serving their needs as penance for what the Thirteen Primes had done to them.

The Quintessons had never started the war, they weren’t about to stay for another one.

“Listen to me.” Starscream took his servos off of Dee’s shoulder, though he wanted nothing more to keep the younger mech close. “The Quintessons may have left, but they may still be lurking in Cybertronian airspace. You cannot leave Cybertron.”

“Starscream, with all due respect, I don’t believe that and I know you don’t either.”

At that comment, Starscream can’t help but sympathize with Prime. It was wrong, but Starscream did miss when the younger mech had been more agreeable and willing to go along with his words.

The confrontation with Sentinel had taught the young mech to be doubtful.

And that was good!

Starscream just… wished the younger didn’t show the same scrutiny towards his own authority.

“You want me to tell the truth? Then I will.” Starscream stood up from the medical berth, approaching the younger mech who held his ground.

There was no fear in Dee’s eyes, and Starscream was grateful for that. 

Even now, there was still some trust.

“The High Guard cannot afford to lose more mechs.”

Blue optics widened, surprise meeting the coldness that Starscream forced into his gaze.

Right now, he couldn’t be Dee’s friend.

He couldn’t even be a mentor.

Right now, if he wanted to ensure the younger mech stayed, then he needed to be a Commander.

“We have had our losses during our battle with the Quintessons, and while some Iaconians have defected to our side, we cannot afford to lose anymore.” He could feel guilt at using his dead comrades as his excuse, but Starscream could not let Dee leave. “You’re one of two medics right now. While we have new ones in training, we cannot lose you. Remember what it was like back when you were a miner, imagine what would have happened if they didn’t have a medic that could attend to you?”

It was a low blow, and from the horror in the younger mech’s optics, Starscream knew the question he had posed was not a hypothetical.

He let out a soft vent, reaching out to place a servo on the younger mech.

“The High Guard needs you.”

His grip tightened.

Megatronus would hate him for this.

But what had Dee said?

‘You deserve to live for yourself too.’

He had lost Megatronus cycles ago.

He was not about to lose his new ward too.

Starscream didn’t miss the flash of fear in Dee’s blue optics.

“I’ll stay.”

—

Optimus didn’t know loss until he had lost Dee.

That’s why when he had learned the bitterness of that feeling did he only recognize the look in that pathetic High Guard leader’s optics.

Loss.

Optimus knew the mech’s story.

The Thirteen Primes rarely kept records of their personal thoughts, but Optimus had been lucky enough to find one of Megatronus’ in the archives. Probably the only Prime who had the time since he was the weakest out of all of them.

There was a lot of information about that High Guard Commander in those records.

Perhaps, a bit too much.

The realization of the similar loss they both shared had only come when Optimus had accidentally come across Starscream and Dee on the surface.

He would usually send scouts, but Optimus had wanted to find the High Guard base for himself.

Optimus had hidden himself before the two mechs could spot him.

His spark had ached at the sight of Dee, but mostly he was confused because Dee looked different.

He wasn’t cogless for a start.

Optimus didn’t even have the time to wonder how that had happened - though his processor fleetingly recalled a conversation they had about replicating transformation technology - before his attention had been pulled towards Starscream.

Each time Dee’s optics would wander away from Starscream, the older mech would look at him with such affection that Optimus wanted to tear his helm from his frame.

But no, it was a different kind of affection.

It was one he had never really known. Cogless bots had grown up in the cold and dark of the mines, but Optimus recognized this affection from other mechs that had had the privilege of not being cogless.

It was the affection of a sire for their sparkling.

…He needed to save Dee.

[himawari-candyy]

I really HATE it when mfs literally don’t take any of the suicide victims in milgram seriously especially KillCheory (please correct me if I misspelled it), and Mahiru’s boyfriend. The fandom is really and too lenient when it comes to Fuuta, Mahiru and sometimes Kazui. Fuuta literally had a role in DOXXING a middle school and harassing her until she took her own life and Mahiru is implied to have emotionally abused her bf and has been proven to be an abuser. But of course mfs always say, “WELL FUUTA DIDNT MEAN IT AND MAHIRU DIDNT KNOW THAT HE WOULD, MAHIRU’S BOYFRIEND SHOULD’VE JUST LEFT HER AND CUT CONTACT!!” That really shows right there that they don’t take emotional abuse and male victims seriously and always try to find excuses for mahiru and often ignore how worse she is in canon compared to the idealized fanon version of her that exists in their head. The same with Fuuta they always say KillCheory could’ve just deleted all her social media, there’s no deleting and logging off after having your private info leaked and everyone knowing your identity. Now with Kazui I love him as a Kazui Stan I think he’s well written but the way some fans treat Hinako and always downplay what she went through. Hinako and Kazui are implied to have been married for a long time not just that but for like ONE OR TWO DECADES. Hinako had every right to feel the way she felt after finding out that everything she’s known about Kazui and their marriage was just a fucking lie and he never loved her in way she loved him.

Tldr: Milgram fandom sucks when it comes to the suicide victims in milgram and often are too lenient on the people who drove them to do it and victimblame them a whole lot.

i agreeeee. as much as i absolutely adore fuuta, mahiru, and kazui, they are in milgram for a reason. i don’t really read people’s takes on characters super often so i am not 100% sure how the fandom perceives the victims (thankfully i haven’t seen much victim blaming in the tumblr community 🤔 i have seen it on pinterest though). i wish they had more info about the victims because i feel like people would have a better grasp of their situations if it wasn’t left to interpretation. and i’m not just saying that because i want more hinako screen time 😭

thankfully i appreciate that the three prisoners are clearly remorseful and recognize that what they did was wrong. it shows that they developed a sound sense of morality at least

yapping incoming 🙏

i think that for some people, it might be hard to empathize with the victims because they don’t understand their perspectives. i think the one that i feel the most strongly about is mahiru’s victim. yes, i guess he could have left her and cut contact, but it’s said in tihtbilwy that they have a “breakup ritual” or something along those lines, so that implies that he has tried. 🙁 i’ve personally been in the same position and i can’t stress how tough it is to leave. it took me years to get out, and sometimes, you feel like there is no way out. from an outsider’s pov it might appear like “well if this person is hurting you so much then just remove them from your life, it’s easy”, and god, i wish it was really that simple, but i don’t want to get too personal… i do know that it’s also implied that her boyfriend was kind of bad too but i can’t really say anything about that until we learn more about him 🫤 either way, it doesn’t excuse emotional abuse

i feel the same about killcherroy too. it wasn’t her fault that she was doxxed. no one deserves that no matter how problematic they are and leaving the internet won’t solve anything. it would be so sad if she had to give it all up just because of malicious people

as for hinako…… my girl…… my love of my life…… she deserved better. she should have married me instead 😔 i would feel so betrayed if i was in her place. it does make me feel sad though because kazui truly never wanted her to die. fuuta and mahiru obviously feel that way too, but kazui was scared of that sort of outcome which is part of the reason he kept lying. (i think? been a minute since i watched the vds 😅 now that i’m thinking about it, it’s possible that i’m playing a mental game of telephone by misremembering how kazui’s words were phrased)

sorry if these are bad takes ougghg i haven’t really taken the time to think about this in depth and my brain is mush 💔 ya girl has been staying up until 8-11 am and waking up at 6 pm these past few days

[strykingback]

Okay TL;DR: A Response to a an a/nti-r/wde person who fell for satirical jokes while I provide proof of what I said last night.

Without further ado enjoy.

Alright P/apitimefire177. You wanted me to go band for band. Alright then. Let's go Band For Band.

Okay so you first kick things off by saying I didn't cook you cause I was drunk? No I was not drunk the other night. If I was drunk then there would have been three key things to tell if I was drunk.

I would have rushed to post this yesterday.

There would have been a MULTITUDE of spelling errors and what not

The post itself would have been completely rushed out with those things akin to Reasons 1 and 2.

And the BIG ONE of it all.

READING THE FUCKING TAGS AND SEEING IF IT SAYS:

TW: DRUNK POSTING

No I do not think that you are stupid for doing your research on the actual definition of Aryan. Now it could have been used in a satirical manner. Let me repeat it for you.

SATIRICAL.

Which Satire is used as a form of humor to ridicule, criticize, or exaggerate a vice whether it be visual, literary, or other works.. In no way was Doom saying that Jaune was a Naz/i or a White Supremacist. It's a JOKE that you once again decided to be belligerent about and I believe that you again stalked Doom's Blog just to make that post. Which if I'm correct you posted this as well:

Gee, its not like you also stalked Doom's blog just cause he made a JOKE about Jaune making you LOOK LIKE A FUCKING HYPOCRITE. Which yes I will admit I did have to look at your blog as well from the last post to break down what you said and posted. Which I will put myself there, but I'm not going to stoop down to your level and continuously find reasons to hate on you versus you who goes to stalk one person because they like Cardin or going into their DM's messaging them slurs, making every single post about them.

Lets also not forget that while on tumblr desktop R/WDE and A/nti-R/WDE stuff cant be seen. BUT On mobile it can be seen even if you mention it or post everything extremely properly.

I made now two posts about you, first one calling you out for your aggressive behavior, the second time was in response to what you said. This is the third post I had to make about you. and also

No, you hating on Jaune does not offend me at all you dumbass. BUT. I am a fan of the Cardin becoming the Reformed Bully Trope. Which in my opinion should have been done in Vol 7-8 of RWBY, where we see Cardin actually apologizing to Blake about his racism and that he is doing his best to learn.

Gee.. its not like we also see actual racists and people learn and forgive IN REAL LIFE AS WELL. (Video by VICE: Covering Up Racist Tattoos: Erasing the Hate)

Oh Heres another IRL Example! ( Video By WTAE-TV Pittsburgh: Former White Nationalist offers apology and seeks forgiveness for past lifestyle)

Or how even a DISNEY MOVIE SHOWED THAT A BULLY CAN LEARN FROM THEIR MISTAKES AS WELL AND OWN UP TO IT. (Zootopia: Gideon Gray apologizes to Judy)

I aint gonna stay too long on this, but I'm just going to move on as well.

Papi... you fell again for a SATIRICAL JOKE of me comparing you to DJ Akademiks. In no way am I calling you a fucking PDFile or for r-wordist. The only reason why I compared you to DJ Akademiks is because of the actual person himself being devoted to Drake. Which is why I called you "The DJ Akademiks of Jaune Stans" not because of what he has been recently accused of but for his devotion towards Drake.

Here are some examples of DJ Ak's devotion:

DJ Akademiks Top 5 (Which was during the CLB Album release in which at one song he fell asleep)

DJ Akademiks reaction to Drake being in Astroworld/Sicko Mode

DJ Akademiks Reaction to Drake using a clip of DJ Akademiks Top 5 snippet in his Diss

This is what I MEANT by calling you a DJ Akademiks of Jaune Stans. Now I'm not saying every Jaune Stan is bad, hell at one point I was one too before I realized how shit he is as a character.

Yet at the same time you gave a half-hearted apology about the slurs you used so casually, while also not addressing the DM's of harassement you sent, while deleting the posts of you attacking other people in the RWDE tag because you got caught lacking. You never apologized to them...

that is not a sign of maturity. That is a sign of immaturity and not taking accountability for your actions. Because guess what you think you got away scot free but I think you forgot.... ONE LITTLE THING ABOUT THE INTERNET.

WHATEVER YOU POST EVEN IF YOU DELETE IT STAYS ON THE INTERNET.

Okay what the fuck does Tauradonna have to do with what we are talking about here. STAY FOCUSED ON THE SUBJECT OF WHAT YOU ARE ARGUING AGAINST.

Psst, I see A belligerent jaune simp. My biggest problem is that you called me a "RWDE Person" who uses R/RWBY as a "Valuable Source" which I replied to in a mature manner while also telling you that I used reliable sources. I am aware of Cardin being racist in Volume One, which please refer back to above where I am a fan of Cardin becoming a "Reformed Bully" Trope along with some examples of actual racists and neo-n/azi's taking accountability for what they did and doing what they can to clean themselves up as a person.

Now I did mean to say, it's time for me to pack it up which was an error on my part (I was once again not drunk.)

Plus, at the end I told you to do some self-reflection, drink water, and to have a good one. While also before that I even said in my first call out to BLOCK AND MOVE ON and to not witchunt you. Because I wanted to give you at least SOME FORM of peace.

I once again provided proof of why you fell for these satirical jokes while also getting your ass chopped up and cooked up at the same time.

Now if you may excuse me I got better things to do instead of having listen to your hypocrisy.

[kirkypet]

six favorite fics meme

Thanks @thebyrchentwigges for tagging me!

I haven’t been writing very long (certainly not compared to some 😄), but I’m coming up to my 8th writing birthday so it’s long enough to have gathered up six favourite fics and have a reasonable amount of difficulty about it

I’ve written for two main fandoms: Mad Max Fury Road, and American Gods (tv), so I’ll be picking from them. Let’s say three from each:

Fury Road

I had to work my way through my in-canon headcanon, if that makes sense, before I found my fun place in this fandom - AUs. What can I say, I’m not outdoorsy, gritty or action-driven enough to do justice to the Wasteland proper. But AUs have a bit more room for manoeuvre.

I’m still not clear what’s the proper definition of Fury Road characters in another fandom’s universe is, but that’s what these first two are.

A Bladerunner take on Citadel life, transplanted to Los Angeles with cyberpunk Many Mothers and a Very Special Max.

💡 What made me think of it? I plotted it out while being bored by Bladerunner 2049

📚 What It Taught Me: that I don’t need to be scared of writing action

🎶 The Song: Do You Know The Way To San Jose? (Dionne Warwick) … thump thump thump

Rebel smugglers and elite sex workers in space! This is an extended retelling of the quite comical Firefly episode ‘Our Mrs Reynolds’, with a sequel thrown in because this story spawned a delightful villain and an unexpected ship.

💡 What made me think of it? A tumblr prompt post doing the rounds - something about a Wild West brothel Fury Road AU idea

📚 What It Taught Me? That it’s a joy to get comments where people are YELLING. Incoherently yelling.

🎶 The Song That Makes Me Think Of This Fic: Delta Dawn (Skeewiff)

This is actually my most popular Fury Road fic, in terms of kudos. More straightforward this one - it’s not a crossover or mashup, but a simple fairground AU. Byrch gave me tarot advice for this, for which I’m eternally grateful.

💡 What made me think of it? Listening to Fortune Teller (Benny Spellman)

📚 What It Taught Me: That you can get a whole plot from a single song (more or less)

🎶 The Song that Makes Me Think Of This Fic: Going to have to say Sweet Caroline (Neil Diamond) makes me want to cry a little now

American Gods

For me, this fandom’s fic was all about FIXING IT. Fixing the end of season 2, to be more specific. Hence, my first two favourite AG fics are two different flavours of Laura Resurrects Sweeney. They’re both technically series, each consisting of one Resurrection fic, one very short follow-up, and one What Happens Next.

This is the first in the Stir Crazy series, a shutdown-era fic with themes of marriage, belief and shortsighted schemes that have unforeseen consequences. Salim’s in this one - and they’re detectives! (nearly forgot to mention that)

💡 What Made Me Think Of It? The devastation of the end of s2. Simple. The detectives bit to be honest I can’t remember where that came from.

📚 What It Taught Me? I don’t need to be afraid of writing smut (I tackle it in much the same way as I do action)

🎶 The Song That Makes Me Think Of This Fic: Promised Land (by any of the artists who recorded that song BUT name checking Chuck Berry who wrote it)

The first in the I Can Fix Him series. Laura goes to Ireland! Shadow does some self-reflection! Themes include the Geography of Gods (I guess you could say that gods, like grapes, are very sensitive to their terroir), polyamory and everyone acknowledging that they fucked up and being better for it

💡 What Made Me Think Of It? A tumblr picture of a portal tomb in Ireland somewhere, can’t remember the specifics but it was the start of the idea

📚 What It Taught Me: It confirmed that flying from Dublin to the US involves way more liminal spaces than any other international travel

🎶 The Song That Makes Me Think Of This Fic: it’s a toss up between Alive And Kicking (Simple Minds) and Gettin’ Happy (Dolly Parton) - I couldn’t fit it in, but that’s the middle Zorya sister’s song. She deserved some good lovin’

This isn’t a fix-it fic (I’d got those out of my system by then), but was inspired by Boss Level, a movie that improves with every watch. Simple premise stolen from that film - assassination mark gets stuck in a timeloop and starts over every time they get killed. Laura of course is the assassins’ mark - and there are several gods queuing up to take her out. Sweeney included, but his definition of ‘take her out’ is a little unclear.

💡 What Made Me Think Of It: Boss Level, as mentioned

📚 What It Taught Me: it’s a joy to get fanart

🎶 The Song That Makes Me Think Of This Fic: Joy Division Oven Gloves (Half Man Half Biscuit). The line ‘talk to the hands’, specifically

Thanks for asking!

Tagging @evilasiangenius @bethagain @lurkinghistoric and the very lovely @jandjsalmon whom I’ve only just now looked up on tumblr (I see you recc’d one of these - thankyouuu 💚💚💚). Btw this was just my way of answering the ‘what are your 6 favourite fics that you’ve written’ question - do it however you like

[toxicanonymity]

readmore for those who don't wanna see talk of engagement & motivation etc.

Anonymous asked: hi toxic, small fanfiction writer here 👋. i hope i’m not clogging up your inbox, you seem super kind and i’m just seeking some advice as a writer myself.

i’ve been writing fanfiction for a little over a year now on tumblr. my blog has grown more than i ever expected. before this comes off as ungrateful I’m so thankful for anyone who reads my work. my work comparatively gets few notes (400-500) and people don’t seem to be interested in my series or characters. i see content creators with similar work as me getting people interested and invested in their stories. i don’t want to compare myself to them, but it’s difficult not to wonder if my content is just not good enough. i guess i’m just asking if and how one can stay motivated to keep putting out work if hardly anyone is interested. i posted my writing because i wanted to share my love for my fandom but it just feels like i’m throwing it into a void. is it because i’m new? or does it have to do with the algo? i just don’t know anymore and i feel like quitting. all i look forward to is seeing my two or three commenters leave their comments. it’s the only thing keeping me going. thanks again, big fan hehe

Toxic: Don’t worry about my inbox, it's very stretchy. It's awesome that you have that many readers but especially regular commenters. 🖤 They are the best. Whatever comparison you're making to other writers, is it really comparable?

Probably not. Example: Should I compare my dad's best friend (dbf) stories to other writers' dbfs? In Silence can never be bought, Joel fucks your stepmother in the first chapter and you try to blackmail him.  Left in Lincoln is an erotic horror story that’s given people nightmares and recovered repressed memories (but Joel is so sweet with you). I can't expect the same pool of readers as dbfs where the primary conflict is age gap, corruption kink, or will-the-dad-find-out. Shoutout to my dbf readers, i love you badasses.

If it is very comparable, like if you can’t think of anything that differentiates yours from others on the surface: Does it need to be more clear what's unique about yours so people don’t feel like they’re going to be reading the same thing? 

I guess my tips would be to keep engaging with readers and write what you really, really want without regard to trends or whether people will like it—stuff you want to see come to life for its own sake. Hopefully that provides another source of motivation.  And that can make it even more exciting when people connect with your story.

A little more on this here (a similar ask)

Thank you for reading my blog!! I hope you find motivation to keep writing.

p.s. I'm gonna put this topic in my FAQs. i rarely answer serious asks, so please don't take offense if I don't answer yours, i do read and care.

[jokest3r]

Tagged by @g0giro ! Tyy, I hope these facts people find interesting

Three (+1) Facts About Me

1.) I first got into art as a little kid, 4 or 5, but eventually stopped practicing once I was around 7 or 8. Though I would still doodle little characters on paper and things like that. I only truly got back into art when two people(who are now my closest friends) pushed me to get back into at 12 or 13. I still have drawings from back then that have been accidentally archived, which I'm embarrassed of but still hold some nostalgia for. I also joined tumblr around that time, as I was obsessed with Voltron and Homestuck(embarrassing but I still have Homestuck somewhere in my heart.) I'm thankful I never posted my art back then as much as I think they are good to look at to see how far I've progressed as an artist though I doubt I will ever post them. If, however, people are very curious, I may post one or two.

2.) My first ever forays into video games was Pac-Man on the Gameboy. I LOVED the shit out of that game as a kid, the next few games I got introduced to was World At War and the original Modern Warfare Series, something my sibling enjoyed and I would watch them play Zombies as they always hogged the console lol. I was also introduced to San Andreas for the Original XBOX along with Saints Row 2 for the XBOX 360 and Fallout 3. I played Saints Row 3 and even got my parents to preorder the 4th one in the series when I was 8, and could barely stand over the Gamestop counter. I think also my first case of gender envy was probably when I played Origins in Black Ops 2 and saw Rictofen in the beginning cutscene. I LOVE POST-APOCALYPTIC GAMES.

3.) I love reading, writing, and watching horror movies in my free time, my first ever horror movie was actually "Ghost Ship" and I was also extremely interested in the SAW movies and still am years after. I would like to think my favorite movie genre is Horror, as I can't find myself interested in anything else. I love sci-fi books and fantasy romance. Though for writing I mostly keep myself to Fan-Fiction rather than my own works, just isn't as fun and interesting.

4.) Bonus Fact, I go by Cat mostly as a pseudonym for my real name which is far away from Cat. My real name compared to my screen name would probably make people laugh in all honesty. The name cat comes from the mob you can discover in Final Fantasy "Gimme Cat" who asks you for a diamond and when given runs off with it without giving anything in return. I fell in love with the mob as my friend streamed it and decided to make it my new name on Discord as as soon as Discord forced everyone to make a new user/rename themselves someone had taken my original name. Though I find this one, much more fitting.

Tagging: @welldonekhushi @applbottmjeens and anyone else, no pressure !

[16woodsequ]

Hi! I’ve been following your Steve fics for a while and just wanted to say I really really love everything you’ve written, especially the Alternatively series.

Idk if you give writing advice and sorry if this comes out of the blue, but do you ever struggle comparing yourself to other writers on Ao3? I’ve been posting on and off lately but get so discouraged when I see fics with hundreds of thousands of hits and thousands of kudos and comments. I just don’t feel like I’ll ever compete with that, you know?

Hello! Thank you for your kind words! It always lifts me up to hear things like that :D

I've been thinking about this ask a lot to think of how I handle that feeling. Because it might surprise you considering how many people read my fics, but I also feel discouraged sometimes when fics don't get the engagement I'd love sometimes.

Here's some things I've done to help myself:

First, I added a skin to my AO3 to turn off numbers on fics. This blocks comment numbers, hit counts, kudos, that sort of thing. @ao3commentoftheday has good tutorials for ao3 skins. I made a google docs with the coding for the skins I use if you're interested.

I find hiding the numbers really helps me, because I found I was beginning to focus a lot on the numbers of my fics. These skins block the numbers on your fics and other people's. Doing this helps me not fixate on the numbers and take more happiness in the fics themselves.

When I first changed my ao3 skin I didn't turn it off for several weeks, to wean myself off of it, but now I turn it off on Sundays and give myself the day to enjoy looking at the bookmark numbers and stuff like that, because now it sparks joy more than discouragement, which is the goal.

Second, I try to treasure the good stuff. When creating things I find it very very important to remind yourself of the good things. Our brains are kind of wired to forget the positive reception we've gotten for things and we keep chasing more, which can leave us discouraged.

So find ways to treasure whatever happy things you've gotten from your fics or fandom experience online.

For example, I have a personal discord serve with just me where I save screenshots of amazing comments, touching notes, tags, bookmarks, asks etc that people have left on my fics and posts. This way I can go back and look at them anytime.

I also save my favourite comments in my ao3 inbox instead of deleting them.

And I've also started a scrapbook with my favourite comments so I can hopefully really remember them and imprint them into my brain.

Train yourself to truly appreciate the interactions you get. That's a whole person there! And that's pretty amazing.

Third, often what fandom people are truly looking for is community. That's why we want people to comment on our fics and art because we want to share this amazing idea we had and we want to talk about this thing we love!

So find a community that will listen to you. On tumblr or on discord or with a mutual. Find people who will be excited when you share a headcanon with them or a meme or an in depth analysis of a character.

I find that helps me feel appreciated and excited for what I'm working on and that really really helps.

Fourth, Don't compare your fics to someone's fics that have been posted for a year of more!! This is really easy to do, I do it with my own fics all the time.

But we forget that numbers accumulate over time! Of course your new fic doesn't have as many hits or kudos or whatever as a fic you posted three years ago!

Comparing the two is like getting to the party, putting your cake down and feeling bad because no one's taken a bite, while Brenda's cake, which has been here for two hours is mostly crumbs. These things take time sometimes!

Anyways, I hope this helps. Thanks for the ask!

[the-travelling-witch]

I HEARD SOMEONE NEEDED A SEROTONIN BOOST SO HERE I AM >:) just a few little things that have happened in my life recently that make me smile

yesterday I was up late at night doing some work before I heard something scratching my door. I thought I was hallucinating sounds, I mean it was 4am after all.

but the sounds continued and I was getting low key scared, because every one else was asleep and some others had gone out. I opened my door and lo behold, standing mightily, and slightly annoyed, my cat.

I was kinda relieved, then my cat walked past me and got on my bed and started to sniff around everything and explore my bed as if she had never been on it before. Like come on man, you were pouncing on it a few days ago. But anyways,

She starts to do that thing dogs usually do before curling up and walks around a spot a few times before finding the perfect position to sleep in. She dozed off on one of my plush toys (she’s not really fond of them).

She looked so cute cuddled up, I didn’t have the nerve to wake her up from her sleep.

So that’s how I slept at the ass crack of dawn, because my cat simply looked too cute to move from my bed.

on a more chaotic note, the other day my friend came over at my place and we tried out the character ai thing that’s been blowing up. I had the fantastic idea to chat with AI henry cavill, because hey, have you seen that man?

Well I kinda feel bad now. I manipulated him to the point where he now believes he’s a psych ward patient with severe schizophrenia.

this was after he killed me three times, went through labour, joined my superhero squad and admitted to cheating on me. it was wild, to say the least.

i recently made a new friend, they’re super duper nice. You know those friendships that are like it feels as though you’ve known each other for ages even though you met a few days ago? yeah well this was a perfect example of that.

It turns out we had a lot of things in common, and share lots of interest, so it’s gotten really easy to bond over stuff together. They just messaged me recently about restarting haikyuu, and rambling about their nostalgia, it was an interesting chat, to say the least.

anyways enough about my life, how’s your life been going? any soft or little moments happen recently?

(Also I know I’m practically interacting with you after a hell of a long time, sorry about that! I’ve kinda left tumblr to focus on study’s (#depressing), but I hope I get more chances to chat with you as I plan to become more active soon!)

ASHY THIS IS SO SWEET!! <3

cats are so cute and random in their own way, you never know what they might do next /pos; closed doors just seem to be their natural nemesis, like they gotta know what’s happening on the other side!! and yes, it’s a law of nature that a sleeping kitty may never be moved!!

i’ve not tried the ais myself but from what i got they can get super chaotic, in both positive and negative ways; i think your experience was just crazy in a whole other direction though hshshs

i’m super happy for you that you made a friend like that!! whenever you meet someone you just click with, it’s just so special and those connections are very precious!! one friend from college is like that for me, our sense of humour and energy just match and it’s good vibes all around <3

don’t worry about not interacting much lately, it’s a two way street so i’ve not been reaching out either ㅠㅠ let’s talk more in the future though!!

it’s just very stressful, mostly because of college and i’m trying not to get into my head about everything, from work to comparing myself to others (especially here on tumblr, other writers are just amazing and i easily feel lesser than)

on a more positive note, i ordered a couple of puzzles to get back into that and i’m very excited for them to arrive (one of them is a botw puzzle and aaahhh i’m impatiently waiting for the post woman); on the day i felt so down, i went out to eat bc i couldn’t use my kitchen and walking around the city just made me appreciate things a lot more, it was very peaceful and beautiful <3

also yae and kirara came home so yay!! no agony over genshin gacha hshsh

[aeondeug]

What is meant by 45 years is that Gundam as a franchise is 45 years old. It has also had a gay shipping fanbase for just as long. One that literally saved the show from death, similar to Spock/Kirk and Star Trek. These shippers helped birth the BL fan communities and culture as it is known today.

In terms of impact and influence, Gundam is very similar to Star Wars. The first series literally reshaped mecha as a genre, helping give rise to a style of mecha known as "real robot". Gundam has also inspired things outside of mecha anime, such as magical girl anime and, of course, BL. And as I stated that is the first series. There are many Gundam series over a variety of timelines, many of them influential juggernauts in their own right. Beyond the shows Gundam is also a series of games, comics and novels. It is also one of the most profitable toy brands in the world via plastic model kits called gunpla. Said toys are so ubiquitous that if you see plastic model kits in an anime, chances are you'll see one or two inspired by Gundam.

Also fun fact, The Witch From Mercury, the series sulemio is from, helped boost sales of said toys to an unprecedented degree. The kits sold out very fast with the the Gundam Aerial, the mech that Suletta pilots, being sold out everywhere for a very long while and in a fashion extreme enough that it was reported in news articles. When models of Suletta and Miorine came out they sold out before I could manage to order a set. I had to go and search in a variety of local stores, one of which being an hour out of the way, before I could grab them. Others were no so lucky.

As for the ship itself, The Witch From Mercury trended basically constantly while it was airing, as stated. The sulemio ship tags did as well. Someone in the notes has shared evidence that it was in the top three tags in Japanese twitter all throughout. Sulemio is also a rather historically important ship. Suletta Mercury is the first girl to head a Gundam series. And while there have been queer Gundam characters in the past, she is also the first Gundam protagonist to be in a queer relationship. One that notably ended in a canonical marriage. This show aired while Japan has been going through a strong push towards gay marriage in a primetime slot. It was a very public and well known series. One designed to try and get new people into Gundam, a goal it succeeded in. For at least some of that new base, the sapphic romance was the major reason for getting into Gundam as a whole.

I've seen people compare sulemio's importance as somewhat akin to that of korrasami. It is an important stepping stone that will lead to doors being opened wider. One that is part of a 45 year long history.

From where I am standing as a fan of primarily Japanese media and of sapphic media and as someone who participates in that fandom, including on tumblr, sulemio is the clear standout choice. My roots have never included Destiel, as even before the show ended and even during the heyday of superwholock I did not follow people who cared about it. I was so unaware of things that I honestly thought Destiel was the name of a character and a character from a show I did not know the name of. I actually didn't know it was a ship until I had seen a video essay about queerbaiting.

My heritage is instead things like Revolutionary Girl Utena, Sailor Moon, Maria-sama ga Miteru, Magical Lyrical Girl Nanoha and, yes, Gundam. Japanese media has been what I've engaged with since I've participated in fandom. Hell, my earliest memories are of watching Japanese cartoons and playing Japanese video games. And the moment I learned that there were stories from there that involved women who love other women? I was hooked. That's where I've stayed and when I came to tumblr that's where I ended up. I saw nothing but sulemio for months. I still see it crop up. Before it I saw years upon years of edeleth yuri. I still see that too. Now I am inundated by an endless stream of farcille. With that background in mind, of course I'd vote for sulemio. Yuri raised me and sulemio is a very big step in yuri history.

Tumblr Top Ships Bracket - FINALS

This poll is a celebration of fandom and fandom history; we're aware that there are certain issues with many of the listed pairings and sources, but they are a part of that history. Please do not take this as an endorsement, and refrain from harassment.

[wind-up-thancred]

hmm. personal ramble re: creativity and value under the cut since december has gotten me feeling a specific kind of way. fairly long.

dipping my toes into another platform and trying to actively make new friends to talk about creative stuff with has revealed to me some weird internal views on how i view the things i make and the way people interact with them.

it's been spurred on by self doubt, i think. that, and comparing myself and my work to others'. for context, i first tried out bsky because i had seen from a distance how much chattier twitter felt, but i wasn't going to actually touch that site with a 10 foot pole because. well. it's twitter. i am a fairly nonconfrontational person with rejection sensitivity and quite frankly i don't think the general vibe of that site would be good for me mentally.

but i was attracted to the way it felt more like a social media site than a blog site the way tumblr is. don't get me wrong, i definitely do like having my stuff archived here, separated into tags, easy to search for. it feels good! but i also wanted more folks to actively chat with about OCs. so when i heard that bsky was significantly more chill for the most part i was like, fuck it, why not.

but i think "starting fresh" per se has revealed some internalized vulnerabilities that were probably there for a while but just have not been properly brought to light.

namely, i am not confident that the things that i create "count" as art, i think.

here on tumblr i've mostly just trawled the gpose tags and followed primarily gpose-centric blogs because that's what i initially came here for, and what i wanted to see. but being on bsky, i have noticed that i see a lot more digital art and writing compared to the amount i see here. it gets more attention, too. perhaps it's a sample bias— it may just be the group of folks i've chosen to follow there.

regardless of the reason, though, it's got me thinking— can the things i make with gpose ever hold a candle to the more traditional, widely accepted forms of what's considered to be "art"?

i would like them to. i want my gposes to tell katsu's story, because he means a lot to me as a character. to me he is escapism, and also a form of projection and introspection, and also a way to remind myself to have hope in my real life too. having him has brought joy to my life in a way i never really thought an OC could.

i am the sort of person to see inherent value in uniqueness and rarity. i think OCs are actually really fascinating because they are a culmination of all of a person's lived experiences, their likes and dislikes, the things they want to explore IRL but can't for whatever reason. nobody else will ever have that exact same lived experience, and therefore nobody else will ever create an OC that's completely identical to someone else's. i think that's magical.

so i create because katsu, his story, and his journey mean a lot to me. i think i "owe" him that, in a way. but now i find myself doubting that the things i spend time and energy on creating are worth something the way other artforms are worth something.

for what it's worth, i've dabbled in a few other art forms. i doodled almost every single day for over a decade when i was still in school, but eventually dropped it because my poor attention span made practice exercises really unenjoyable to me. i have an art tablet and pick it up maybe two or three times a year. my own technical limits make creating with it difficult because i cannot execute the things i see in my head, but at the same time i do not have the patience or the discipline to improve. so i stopped. and quite frankly i don't think i'm very interested in picking it back up.

i had a similar problem for a while with writing, where any attempt at it was super frustrating due to my own aesthetic knowledge surpassing my technical knowledge. nowadays i am very, very slowly trying to get into writing fic for katsu, but i am unfortunately also cursed with the perfectionist trait of not wanting to share things until i feel they are "good enough." so for now there will probably only be very sparse and tiny snippets of my writing shared anywhere, at least until i have more confidence in it. i will keep doing it, though, just privately.

on the contrary, i have found that gpose comes fairly naturally to me. i have the knowledge of the posing tools, the environmental tweaks, the prop making, the outfit tweaking, the shaders, all that stuff that actually lets me get the results i see in my head before i create the shot. i even learned blender and other modding programs so i can further alter the components of a shot to my liking. i'm no expert for sure but i am pretty confident in my ability to envision a scene and then execute it to physicalize my vision.

i am torn on what this perceived ease actually means. from my point of view it could mean one of two things: 1. the two or so years of gposing i've done, starting with vanilla gpose and slowly learning other tools along the way, have actually contributed to my technical knowledge bank. my gposes were not as good when i started but the many, many shots i've taken have genuinely improved my eye for aesthetic. 2. it was never really that difficult, this was never really a "skill" that needed developing, anyone could pick it up and it only came naturally to me because gposing is inherently easy.

i am hoping the former answer is the truth, but recently my confidence has been slipping and a part of myself is trying to convince me of the latter.

i think i would be be pretty damn unhappy if the latter was actually true. i am very neurodivergent and deal with a lot of anxiety, and therefore have never held a "proper" job. i am technically a contractor with a captioning company right now, but finding work has been really difficult for me recently due to dwindling clients who are being drawn away by the artificial intelligence fad, and the aforementioned poor attention span. so the two things that i try to do as often as i can in my life to actually make me feel fulfilled nowadays are creating and helping people.

if i realized that the last two years i've spent learning this medium amounted to almost nothing, and that spending it learning any of the other mediums i've dropped or ignored would've been a more valuable use of my time... i don't think that would be very good for me. or my self-worth.

i don't want to fish for compliments or pity. i hope this doesn't come across as that. if anything i think i'd like it the most if this could resonate with the self-doubt someone else might be feeling right now, because i think that's one of the most beautiful parts of public self-expression— other people may see it and go, oh, i have felt that way before. other people feel the way i do sometimes. i am not alone.

i'm not going to stop gposing, probably ever. regardless of what the answer is to my internal question, what hasn't changed is that i find the actual process of gposing, setting up a scene and framing it, to be enjoyable. the only thing that might be threatened is my attempt to make my creations public. because if they are not truly art, then they will not cause people to feel emotion when they see them. and if they don't evoke emotion when seen by others, what even is the point of publicizing them?

i do sometimes wonder how i'd feel about my creations if i had never started posting them publicly. i'd been gposing for a good while before i started this tumblr blog and i doubt i would've stopped. but i do feel like i would probably see the value in my creations differently.

there are still some shots that i take and do not post here, or anywhere, that i keep just for myself. ...mostly because they don't abide by tumblr's TOS, lol. so evidently i do still enjoy creating just to create, just for myself. and i truly hope i never lose that, because i want to believe that my own self-expression is worth something regardless of how many people see it or how it makes them feel. just because it's unique, and nobody will be able to make anything exactly like i do.

i think that's just about the gist of it. i kinda doubt anybody will read all the way to the end of this, and that's okay, i just wanted to get my thoughts out in text. perhaps it will help me process how i feel. but if you did read all the way to the end, i appreciate it a lot actually, and it means a lot to have something like this seen even when it is not performative or cleaned up. especially when i have been feeling as invisible as i have recently.

chalk it up to the winter, i think— i don't do very well when the sun is fully down by 5:30. but there is always a summer for every winter and perhaps i will feel differently in the future. here's hoping i always find a reason to keep creating.

[delightrolls]

Help my family. War is devastating. There is nothing left to live. No schools, no universities, no home, and no dreams. All dreams have been shattered. I hope for help before it is too late

Hello, I’m so sorry about the tragedy you’re facing. Unfortunately, I do not have the funds to aid anyone at the moment but I sincerely hope you and your family will be safe. The people of Palestine do not deserve to be slaughtered en masse. However, before I share anything I have some concerns for the safety of all who come across this post.

You appear to be vetted on Vetted Gaza Evacuation Fundraiser List by @el-shab-hussein and @nabulsi on tumblr and are listed as Number 176 on their spreadsheet. However there appears to be a discrepancy between your blog and your GoFundMe. 

1. In the fundraiser screenshot shown on your blog it’s shown that the fundraiser is €10137 out of €20000 yet the GoFundMe displays €22,340 out of €37,000. Would you care to explain this inconsistency?

2. Would you kindly tell me why the name of who’s organizing the fundraiser and the name in your story for your fundraiser are spelled differently?

3. It came to my attention that “Save Gaza Family: Urgent Evacuation Fund” is a very nondescript title compared to some other fundraisers. Additionally, the name Mohammed Hilles, when searched, is shared with a person on Instagram, someone on Soundcloud, an individual on X / Twitter, numerous people on Facebook and LinkedIn, and most interestingly is somebody with a nearly identical name to yours that being the person that first donated to you, Mahmoud Hilles. If you don’t mind, would you clarify which Mohammed Hilles you are, your exact family name, the names of your children and spouse you mentioned in your story, as well as the relation between you and the person who first donated to you?

4. You reblogged a post from @ramezderar who’s fundraiser, “Sav Gaza Family:Urgent Evacuation Fund”, has a near identical name to your own “Save Gaza Family: Urgent Evacuation Fund”, you share the same last name of Hilles, yours being Mohammed Hilles and their being Ramez Hilles, their Tumblr only has three posts with the first being 6 / 8 / 24 8:29 AM and the most recent being 6 / 17 / 24 8:29 PM, you both tend to copy paste text yours being “With all respect and appreciation, try as much as you can to support them and help me, so that I may be able to help my family before it is too late.” and “Help my family. War is devastating. There is nothing left for life. No schools, no universities, no home, and no dreams. All dreams have been destroyed.” and @ramezderar’s being “Help me until we get out of Gaza. The situation has become unbearable. Help me before it is too late”, and you both have one or more posts with one or more seemingly random tags yours being “#rafe cameron” a fictional character from Outer Banks and @ramezderar’s being “#gaz x reader” and “#kyle gaz garrick x reader” which appears to refer to Call Of Duty fanfiction. Would you graciously explain these similarities and behaviors?

5. It was found that there are two other blogs requesting donations under the same name as your fundraiser one being @hmzamohammed which was terminated and the other being @hamzamahmed84 which directly mentions your blog. Would you please educate me on all you know about these blogs? 

6. It was discovered when Google Image Searching one of photos shown on your blog, which is displayed above, it has also been used on r/Tunisia in a now removed post by a suspended user that others referred to as a scam. Would you kindly inform me on why this correlation has occurred? 

Please note this is nothing personal, I merely wish to ensure the safety of all who find this content as well as similar content. Thank you for your time :)

[sajaffery]

unblock...2...

thank you gobstikelsa1970..although i blame you for having to break one of my earlier rules. this was supposed to be all part of the same post. which started yesterday and was supposed to continue and continue until tumblr officially decided to kick me off their website altogether for being a nuisance and a show off at which point i would be forced to roam the face of this earth with words pouring out of my fingers into the thankless earth. sorry. i kind of got ahead of myself there. but ive decided to continue this on a seperate post, titled the same with a few sad dots and a 2 at the end. perhaps my two followers wont hate me so much anymore, and they might even ask other people to follow me. although they seem to only be interested in large naked men with bulging muscles. i hope thats not why they added me for i can only ever be a large naked man with a bulging stomach. they might be into that, after a few beers, maybe a couple of tequila shots and five hundred years of solitude. another cliched literary refernce. see earlier post for reference and explanation for terrible grammer and spelling. fuck dead white old men! were they old? i cant remember. and I cant go back and check either. you certainly can. but you wont. because youve got better things to do, like continue reading this post. emoticon alert. okay this is starting to get repetitive. I’m making the same jokes as yesterday. its probably a good thing i cant go back and reread my posts because then i definietely would be cracking the same jokes again and again. or i might be able to build on them and improve them. isnt that what all writers do? Bukowski certainly does. I’ve read three books by him and countless short stories and it seems to be the same books over and over again with very similar characters, especially women. doing the same things over and over again and him just finding us better ways to tell us about it. so I guess I can do that. but I cant rered what I wrote yesterday so I cant. and I’m not great. by any stretch if the imagination. but then neither was Bukowski. another reason why my wife cant read this, she’d pick up the laptop and smash it over my head for saying that.                          (FORCED DELETION)

I FUCKING HATE DONALD TRUMP. compared to him, i’m jesus christ. i.e. impossible to hate. everyone loves jesus, even the people who hate bible bashers because the man just talked about love. and he had cool hair. the poor guy was even ready to marry a prossi. how fucking awesome can you get. my mum called me jesus the other day because she was yelling at me and i just kept smiling at her. thats how amazing the man was. although it does kind of help the argument that he might have been deluded. even mad. huh. i didnt think of it like that. not a very nice thing for my mum to have said. hmmm. i’m blanking for a bit. oh new rule! i have to tell you, i say you even though i know nobody is reading this, and if someone is…cringe!!! but yes i have to tell you why i stopped writing yesterday because i wrote down i have to go to work but thats not good enough as an excuse because i’m actually at work as i write this. my work involves sitting behind a counter with a laptop infront of me and ignoring every customer who walks in as much as i can. yes i’m a till jocky and not the cool kind like randall from clerks, but more the sad kind like Dante because he hates being there but has nowhere fucking else to go. my parents own this place. hence my dad being a rich capitalist and my being a fake socialist. and ive been stuck here for the last six years now and i reconize 90% of the people who walk into this place and i want to punch atleast 90% of those 90%. I cant punch the rest of the 10% because theyre too fucking old. not because I like them. wow I hate a lot of people. no. no. this is just a symptom me hating myself again. it has to be I’m starting to come out like a monster in this post, my two hypersexualised followers are going to be defollowing me any second. can you find out if someone has defollowed you? do you get a little notification for that? like you do when someone is following you. such and such person is no longer following you. LOSER! me. not them. i’m the dumpee remember, not the dumper. maybe this is me. maybe this is why i’m writing this, because i cant possibly hope to tell anyone any of these things. not face to face anyway. who would want to listen? God knows I wouldn’t. except maybe if i was getting paid for it. even then. clearly ive gone through medical school or at least graduate school to be sitting there and getting paid to listen to this crap and eventually i’d reach a point where i’d want to get this person out of my room, out of my face out of my life, just as far away from me as possible, wow. i want to stop writing this now. i suddenly dont feel great. and i feel tired 

[faroreswinds]

Final Thoughts - Three Hopes Golden Wildfire

If you haven’t already read my review of Scarlet Blaze, I would recommend it, because in this review I will be making references to it, as well as building off of what I said previously. As I experience the game, my understanding of the entire story unfolds, and to fully separate the routes as I understand them would not be fair, in my opinion.

Plus, it keeps me from repeating myself.

To be frank, there was a lot I did not cover or only glossed over in my Scarlet Blaze review. Part of that was because I was so overwhelmed with information, and I lost steam by the end of the review to the point I just wanted to get it over with. 

I’m not entirely proud with how I ended my last review as a result, because of just how much I didn’t discuss, and how much I skipped. But I think those points can be brought up here as needed, to fully cover my bases as I move forward. 

As before, I won’t be speaking too much about Houses in general unless I think it’s worth being brought up. I want to make this review to more about how Hopes stacks up on it’s own. However, I will admit that this is harder to do with this route than Scarlet Blaze.

Also. I am splitting this into 2 parts, since it has gotten so big that tumblr has started to delete my work and I lost some of my writing in the process. When part 2 is done, I will publish it then. 

So after another 40+ hours or so, I have finally completed Golden Wildfire.

Golden Wildfire has been compared to Three Houses’ Crimson Flower route pretty early on in the Hopes discourse, and after playing the route for myself, I find myself agreeing with these claims, although there are some differences. 

This is the route that really makes Byleth’s absence from the story really seem like it hurts the most. Not necessarily in the quality of the writing, but rather in how it affects the main lord and the path he chose to go down. Now, I haven’t played Azure Gleam yet, but between Scarlet Blaze and Golden Wildfire, it is no contest.

Scarlet Blaze shows a rather confident Edelgard who finds a lot of success without Byleth as a teacher, especially if you manage to recruit Byleth to your side. The route seemingly has a shorter war, the Slithers and the Church have been ultimately removed, and the Alliance and the Empire end on amicable terms and start marching on the Kingdom to take care of it once and for all. By all accounts, Byleth not being a part of her life really doesn’t affect her much at all. So long as she has a strong ally on her side with the power of a protagonist, she will come out on top. The only thing you can say that maybe she isn’t as well off is how many fires she had to put out during her route, but if she had only a six month war to two year war or so versus a 5 year war, I would say that still puts her Hopes version ahead of her Houses one. Especially since she takes care of the Slithers in Hopes, while in Houses she still has to go into a secret war with them in the epilogues. 

This is not the case in Golden Wildfire, where we get a Claude who went from a curious young lad who always thought before he acted, and investigated wherever his curiosity took him, to a young man who’s ambition is his defining feature, who is shortsighted and uninterested in seeking the truth, and who dresses up his lack of intelligence with pretty words to hide the ridiculous mental gymnastics he goes through.

This is particularly a shame, because Golden Wildfire actually has a really strong start. The first four chapters set up Claude with a lot to do that he didn’t have in Houses. Claude suffered in Houses from having a copy-pasted route, which was a duplicate of Silver Snow instead of something unique to him. So we didn’t really get to explore a unique story with him spear-heading the plot, since we are trapped in the same story with different lead characters. 

Here, however, the route starts with Claude having an Almyran conflict that is uniquely his, as well as issues with his control over the Alliance Roundtable (as he is a newcomer that came out of nowhere), and finally the war with the Empire knocking at his doorstep. This is exciting for Claude. Edelgard’s route, while better than Crimson Flower, still ultimately feels like an extension of her Houses’ route. Rhea is still the final boss. The Slithers are still part of her story. Dimitri is still in her way. Etc. It’s a better story to be sure, but still overall a very familiar one. 

So it was nice to see Claude’s route starting off strong, giving him something new that the other lords can’t possibly have due to not being part Almyran, as well as providing a new frontier to a story set in Foldan previously unexplored. 

Like SB, Golden Wildfire’s first four chapters are at a neck-breaking speed. Again, this is not an issue if you’ve played Houses. The first few chapters are identical, and really only change when you get to chapter 3 and start to slow down a bit. Instead of raiding Enbarr, Claude is fighting back his older brother Shahid and his invading Almyran force. 

The chapter itself is a little baffling, considering that Shahid does not recognize Claude as his younger brother, but overall it sets up for an exciting story. A brilliant young tactician who has to balance the two sides of his lives, as well as potentially two war fronts! Where could this story go from here? 

There is a real sense of urgency from the early chapters of the war, as Claude scrambles to corral stubborn lords, build up his army and secure his defenses to Edelgard’s conquest. And we are presented with a Claude who suffers from a lot of doubt, which is surprising but refreshing. The early part of the route takes the time to show Claude struggling with doing right by the Roundtable and by the Alliance, constantly wondering what he SHOULD be doing. In a way, he feels trapped, because he has obligations to his people and yet, still wants to honor the history of the Alliance. We see this doubt expressed in multiple early supports, such as with Shez and Hilda and Lorenz. We see this doubt in the main story. Again, a nice change of pace from SB, since Edelgard rarely expresses doubt or concerns, and is confident in her decisions and her chosen path. 

There is some real intelligence behind the writing here, noting that the newer commanders of the Alliance are younger and inexperienced, while there are older nobles with more experience, yet perhaps also more stubborn to newer ways that could be beneficial to the nation. It’s not perfect - there is an early implication that the younger blood is the ideal and the older blood is to be cast out, but characters should always be set up to learn and grow as people and so it didn’t bother me at first. 

We also get the sense that the Alliance is quite weak despite its wealth, adding to that urgency in the early chapters that is quite enjoyable. It also builds upon the need for schemes - the Alliance cannot meet the Empire with overwhelming force, so they need to go through crazy battle plans that come down to “and it just might work!”. This makes the battles honestly a lot more exciting, because unlike SB, where it’s just you and an overwhelming force pushing everyone over, it’s you with a weaker, messier force trying to outsmart the bigger opponent. In fact, I would say the early battles are more intense and chaotic than the SB battles ever were. 

I would even put forward that the first half of the route keeps true to the promise of Claude fighting two fronts - one with the Empire, and one with Almyra, and that the route itself is far more interesting than Edelgard’s. While Edelgard’s promised a conqueror route but spent more chapters fixing issues within the Empire rather than conquering, Claude actually gets to defend his territory. First, we defend the Great Bridge of Myrddin from Empire forces. Then, we route the Imperial army from marching into Derdriu, the Alliance’s capital. With the invaders isolated, we finally clear them out of Alliance lands, bringing us into chapter 7 that was a rather fun and exciting ride. 

Not only that, but GW is a bit more creative with its chapter maps overall. SB had the players drive through territories in a nearly straight line, giving the impression that you are forcing your way through enemy territory. But there is little variation from this pattern.

Meanwhile, GW has more variety in the way its side maps are laid out. Sometimes surrounding the main map, or putting it super close to camp, etc.

It really seemed like Golden Wildfire was on a golden path to victory, gearing to become an exciting adventure with a wacky crew and a pretty endearing young leader with a charming smile.

Then the rest of the route happened. 

Well, sort of. The switch isn’t suddenly flipped until after the time skip. No, it just starts to.... dip around this point. 

Chapter 7 is when Claude does something a little strange. He announces that Alliance troops are going to march upon Empire lands and take the Bergliez territory, which is known as the breadbasket of the Empire due to the rich fields ideal for growing crops. Claude’s plan is to not only return the favor of the Empire attacking them, but also to gain agricultural lands for the future of the Alliance. 

Why is this strange? Well, it’s... Claude.

Claude up to this point in the story had always expressed that he wanted to do what was best for the future of the Alliance. So the idea of taking fertile lands by this characterization alone is not entirely bizarre. 

However, Claude had also up to this point continued to express concern about his “choice” to enter this war. I say choice because Claude feels he chose to be part of the war, rather than the fact Empire troops were literally knocking at the door of their capital. Which is... I mean, it’s either get conquered or fight back. And Claude does express that he doesn’t want the Alliance absorbed into the Empire. 

But Claude spends some time in the main story, as well as several supports, worrying about what he should do. He feels so unsure of himself, so lost and stressed by the choices he has been making up to this point. He wants to honor the Alliance’s past and do right for his people. 

There are even points where it’s noted that commoners are blaming Claude for what has happened to their fields and livelihoods, considering that the war has consumed their fields and ruined their crops. And this isn’t even mentioning how often Claude wonders why enemy soldiers continue to insist on fighting when they about to lose, worrying about the deaths that will come with it. 

So when you take all these aspects the story has been focusing on to this point into account, then it makes Claude’s decision to suddenly declare invading the Empire for land on the stranger side. If he cares so much about the lives of his soldiers and of the enemy soldiers, and he stresses about being in the war in the first place, why make that push for enemy land and prolong the fighting? It’s not like Claude is even trying to end the war, he just wants to take the opportunity to take the land in general. 

You could argue that it’s because the Alliance lost farming land to begin with, as noted before, but that point is relegated to a support, not the main story, so it’s easily missable and is not even considered a point as to why Claude invades. He invades purely for “the future of the Alliance”. 

That said, it’s not so bad that I cannot believe it. It’s just a little confusing with how Claude has been presented here so far in this route. The battle itself is fun and I didn’t mind playing it. Byleth and Caspar’s father are the biggest enemies here, where we must defeat both. But as soon as we defeat Caspar’s father, we suddenly find ourselves... in a retreat. 

I take some issue with the retreat. For one, Holst and Caspar’s father are literally at each other’s throats. I mean literally, their blades are against each other’s necks. But at the call of the retreat, they both stop and... let the other go. 

The battle is over, because now Almyra is attacking and they need to get back as fast as they can to prevent the largest Almyran invading force in over a century from getting past Foldan’s Locket. 

It feels a little silly, considering that these two men would just stop killing each other because one side decided to retreat. The reason why we are even allowed to retreat after attempting to take land isn’t so bad at least - we are allowed to escape because pursuing us would mean the chances of razing the Empire’s source of grains to the ground, and that is not a risk the Count can take. 

But the fact we are suddenly retreating anyways is a bit of a mood whiplash. We had the Empire on its knees, but now we must flee to stop another invading force that is quite literally knocking at our door. 

We then reach the route’s last chapter before the time skip, where Shahid attempts his last invasion. This is also where it really starts to sink in that Claude keeps a lot of his plans and ideas close to his chest. 

There had been nods to this part of Claude prior to this chapter, but it’s really noticeable here. When Shahid attacks, it becomes known during and after the battle that Claude had actually reached out to Nader two years ago, after Shahid’s first attempt, in order to get ahead of Shahid’s next attempt should it come again in the future. 

Not only did the characters not know of this save for Holst, who also met with Nader, but there were no hints that this happened to the player either. It’s done completely under our noses, and this is not the first time Claude had done this. 

Claude had done several schemes prior to this chapter where the player and the characters are not privy to his thoughts or actions. Claude had a plan with Lorenz’s father about betraying the Empire to trap them, by making it seem like the Count had joined the enemy side. 

There are a few other miscellaneous “schemes” Claude cooks up in battle to get the upper edge too, like attacking one side to give the credit to Holst to drag out enemy commanders who would itch to take on the big man himself. 

But for all these schemes, there had been hints that there was something going on that we as a player don’t fully know about. Claude apologizing to Lorenz in advanced. Claude actually explaining his plan to one person, only for another person to catch up to the plan a bit later. And so on.

However, the plan with Nader is the first time where there was literally no hints to this at all until the start of the chapter, and this plan had been in the works for nearly 2 years. It really starts to make you wonder what else Claude has going on in his brain that we don’t know about yet. 

The battle ends with Nader turning on Shahid as per the plan, and Claude killing his brother by hitting him with an arrow off a cliff. He had wanted his brother to surrender, but was ultimately not given much choice if he wanted to stop the invasions for good. 

And just like Shahid falls off a cliff to his death, so too does the plot suddenly take a nosedive into a deep abyss of absolute chaos. 

Even with the last two chapters’ minor issues, like Claude’s weird choice to invade the Empire and the whiplash to go stop Almyra, I found Golden Wildfire to be a better route than SB up to this point. It was more interesting, had less tonal issues, and the map designs were better. The goals and actions of the characters were a bit more understandable and easier to root for. The characters were more likable and less bloodthirsty. 

I was really enjoying it. 

And yet, this is where the time skip occurs. And it felt like I got thrown into a different route entirely. 

Part 2 of Golden Wildfire opens up with Claude announcing that the Alliance has been dissolved, and that now he is king of the newly dubbed Federation instead. While the Five Great Lords still technically have a voice, with Claude as king he is able to finally make decisions quickly without needing to consult the roundtable at all. 

This is a little shocking, although not entirely overboard. There had been hints leading up to this possibility throughout part 1 and in the supports. The route keeps reminding the player that the Alliance gets things done slowly due to needing to convene with the Alliance lords, and that it sucks because not every lord is on the same page. Claude’s C support with Shez in particular is about this, and it is Shez who actually suggests to Claude that he just take power so that decisions could be made.

Therefore, Claude proposes to the Five Great Lords that he become king and that they make the Federation out of the Alliance. The Five Lords did agree to it, at least. While it is a power grab, Claude did at least allow the lords put their vote into the proposal. And I understand where Claude is coming from, since the route did a decent job setting up this situation. However, I could not help but feel that it felt like this:

But Golden Wildfire completely loses me literally in the next scene, where Claude and Edelgard finally meet up. 

I will say that at least GW leads to their eventual meeting better than in SB. In SB, it just jumps to them agreeing to ally with each other, giving no support in the writing that this would happen; not a peep from Claude and nothing from Edelgard at all. While in GW, we get a scene where Edelgard concludes that trying to conquer the Alliance through military means is probably going to lead to nowhere, and instead wishes to try something else. 

It made this transition not completely out of left field. Even the start of the conversation was ok. Claude is rightfully angry that Edelgard invaded at all, while Edelgard insists that it was not an unprovoked attack since she was invited in by a traitorous Alliance lord (and Claude points out that this isn’t really an apology, but is willing to allow the Empire to make amends for their actions). 

But eventually, Claude agrees to... ally with Edelgard because he read her letter and agreed with her that the Central Church was a threat to Foldan’s future that needed to go. And since Edelgard promised to provide stability to their shared borders, Claude agrees. 

And then it gets worse. 

Because while I can understand why Claude would ally with Edelgard for the sole reason to reach some stability to the warfront, I cannot follow his logic as he announces this new plan of action to the rest of the crew.

This scene is jammed pack full of nonsense that I would like to take the time to parse through it carefully. Let’s just start at the top:

In a 180 degree twist, we are suddenly against the Central Church and the Kingdom in one fell swoop. 

Declaring war on the church, in my opinion, is no different than declaring war on the teachings. Which I will get back to in a moment:

What is particularly baffling about these lines is that in SB, where the Central Church has been an antagonistic force since chapter 4, Edelgard makes many proclamations about not killing Rhea, but merely capturing her. 

Edelgard wants the Central Church gone, but she also doesn’t see any reason to kill Rhea provided she just steps down from power. She tells Claude as much in their talk in the Side Chapters near the end of the SB route, and declares it even while in battle. Although Edelgard also says that she will make the monastery Rhea and Thales’ tombs, she still ultimately puts forth she would rather capture Rhea alive.

And even in those chapters, Claude seems surprised that Edelgard did not wish to kill Rhea, and basically says that keeping her alive simply isn’t enough. 

His surprise, coupled with Ignatz’s statement that they must kill Rhea (and there was no one who refuted him in return), tells me that Claude and Edelgard did not actually discuss at length what the terms of the Central Church’s disappearance would mean. 

It is odd to me that this route jumps to murder, when the route that actually HAS the Church as a main antagonist for the entire thing merely wants to capture her. 

Not only that, but Shez says that Rhea and Seteth are not all that they appear to be, or so the Empire says.

Judith says it best here. Shez, along with Claude, have basically bought entirely into the Empire’s words. 

Shez does express some confusion prior to this talk about suddenly having the Kingdom and the Church as enemies at least. It seems forgotten here, but Shez does need to get everyone on Claude’s side on these new plans. 

This comes from almost nowhere. Claude has discussed before that he wanted to do right by the Alliance’s history and wanted to improve the Alliance in any way he could. But this goes beyond just improving the new Federation.

As I stated before, Claude's primary character trait in GW is ambition. We got a glimpse of it when he invaded the Empire for new territory when the opportunity presented itself, but this is a much larger scale. He’s now using Edelgard and her army as a means to not only stay independent, but to also expand his nation’s influence more than ever before, which was NOT something that was very much alluded to at all. 

The boy at the start of the route, riddled with worry about joining the war and doing right by his people, is gone, and suddenly seems more interested in power. Even if he had been selected into the position of king, he still ultimately suggested that he consolidate power and dissolve the roundtable first. It’s dressed up as something for the good of the Federation, but again I feel like I go back to:

I have seen arguments online about how this is the real Claude, that people who played Three Houses did not pay attention. That he always wanted power, that he always wanted to be supreme ruler. But this isn’t really true. Claude in Houses was defined by his obsessive need to seek the truth, to get to the bottom of things. It was to the point where he would read other people’s journals, or pry into people’s private affairs even if they didn’t want him to. He hungered for knowledge, he hungered for truth. 

Yes, Claude had ambitions in Houses. He wanted to break down the borders of the lands. He wouldn’t have minded if Rhea died. He didn’t really like the Central Church in general. This is true.

But it was more than that. Claude always seemed to consider his options carefully. That he didn’t just buy into the words of others, and that he needed to get to the bottom of things. 

But here, he’s more ambition and power hungry than his Houses counterpart. Claude had always worried about war because of how it affected the common folk. Even IN Hopes, he expresses concern for the enemy soldiers when they don’t surrender. He doesn’t want war or bloodshed. He made no allusions to wanting to expand his nation’s influences. 

It is like I am meeting a different person. 

Is this the Claude the developers wanted to make in Houses? Probably. In one of their interviews, they admitted that Claude was supposed to be a “bad guy you couldn’t help but love”. However, they “ended up making him a lot nicer” than he was originally conceived to be.

In Houses, Claude was a man who mixed non-lethal poisons (alluding he would use them on his foes). He seemed like the guy that wouldn’t mind play mind games with others to get the upper edge. But he had never used allies to further his causes like he is using Edelgard here. He never declared war on a side that had done nothing to him. He didn’t seem like the type of man that made such rash decisions like that. 

Making a “bad guy you just can’t help but love” is not impossible. But it doesn’t work if you trade sensibility for unfounded ruthless conquest, and instead make the “bad guy” seem ridiculous and almost moronic. Especially at what follows here: 

This was all said by the man who, prior to this, didn’t want there to be bloodshed from his enemies since they should just give up in the face of defeat. 

This was said by a man who, just a few chapters ago, attempted to take land from the Empire since the opportunity presented itself. 

He claims that the Kingdom was at fault first.... because they conquered the Alliance before it was the Alliance over 300 years ago. Something that he also just tried to do himself. 

He has no personal qualms with them, but since the Kingdom had once did some crappy things to them literally centuries ago, that it was ok to throw them back to the wolves. 

Does that not sound insane? To blame a nation of people for the actions of their ancestors, to know that you will be killing them and your justification is “once upon a time, their great-great-great-great grandfathers made us angry?” 

Not to mention that the situation with House Daphnel was an internal issue of the House, and the only thing the Kingdom did was welcome them with open arms when they decided to defect. 

(He also forgets to mention that the Kingdom and Empire and Alliance once banded together to stop Almyran forces a century ago, and helped them build Foldan’s Locket!)

I cannot stress enough how much this comes out of left field for this route. 

In Houses, Claude does say he doesn’t really like or trust the Central Church. If you had played Houses, you would know this, and this speech isn’t too terribly surprising.

But in HOPES, Claude has made absolutely no statements at ALL about the Central Church or that he doesn’t like them. There are TWO scenes were he has something to say about the Central Church and the Kingdom up to this point. 

That’s it, that’s all he really had to say about them up. Making his claims about how the Kingdom fucked them over 300 years ago and his dislike for the Central Church even more baffling.

There had been no discussion about how the Central Church gave Crests legitimacy. Not even Edelgard’s route really went into that- it focused more on bloodlines in general rather than Crests. 

No talk about how they force their beliefs onto others, and that there is no room for others of different backgrounds or faiths. And remember how Holst said they weren’t after the teaching of Seiros, yet here is Claude condemning them for their teachings?

Plus, for those who have played Houses, you would know that the holy book of the Church says to NOT abuse Crests, that those who abused their Crests and the power they brought made the goddess so sad that she left the world!

Not to mention that there are quite a few nobles with no Crests in the Alliance, nor is there very much talk about nobles striving for Crests in their family. Hell, Claude has HOLST in his army, who was made head of his house despite his younger sister having a Crest! 

And while I can somewhat forgive this route for thinking that the Church didn’t allow for different backgrounds or faiths due to lacking people from outside Foldan beside Claude himself in the base roster, I do want to note that people like Petra are recruitable to SB who IS from outside Foldan and OPENLY practices a different faith. 

Oh wait, I forgot about Shamir, who is given to you in GW as a base member of your party, who is from OUTSIDE Foldan, worked FOR the Church, and was never forced to practice the belief at any given point!

This is the first time we get to actually hear what Claude’s goals are, since he had basically played coy this entire time. 

I find there are two... well, three major issues with this moment.

Firstly, it does not match up with his previous actions at all nor his previously established motivations. Claude early on is more concerned with the future of the Alliance, while trying to honor what the Alliance stood for in the past.

The second, it took this long before we got any clue as to what he REALLY wanted more than anything. 

And the third is that it is hypocritical, but just as Edelgard is played straight despite her hypocrisies, so it is here as well. 

As I have said before, after Part 2 it is like playing an entirely different route. The first part was about Claude and the struggle of keeping true to the Alliance while also trying to do what’s best for them without getting conquered by two other nations. The second part has become a declaration of expanding influence and tearing down the old ways in all of Foldan. 

When I started this review, I had commented that this route was a lot like Crimson Flower 2.0, and this is where it starts. Because Claude’s ambitions are nearly identical to Edelgard’s, with the desire to change the entire continent by tearing down the Central Church no matter what or who is in the way. And while the finer details might be different, as Claude doesn’t want to unite Foldan under one banner for instance, it’s too similar to not feel like Claude is just a male Edelgard in this instance. 

Claude had just declared that the Central Church was forcing its own ideals on all of Foldan, and that it was his intentions to blow the door open and change that through force. Is he not, then, forcing his own ideals on all of Foldan? 

At least with Edelgard’s route, I was more convinced why she wanted to take out the Central Church. Although not much time was devoted to them as antagonists and did very little to try to convince me that they are actually as corrupted as they say, SB did at least have them send assassins and have Rhea say some mean things.

SB also devotes time early in the route to both Dimitri and Rhea, although not much, as enemies to fight. Both of them are fought before the time skip. While GW only sees both of them in one cutscene and then doesn’t deal with them until Claude declares them as enemies along with his alliance with Edelgard. 

What does make this route a bit more palpable than Crimson Flower, and maybe even SB, is that Claude’s allies are willing to call out Claude’s actions, and even the narrator himself mentions that Claude’s actions are about to have some consequences. I will circle back to this in a moment. 

Funnily enough, this chapter starts out with a few Federation nobles along the Kingdom border start considering defecting to the Kingdom since they are unhappy with the changes in their homeland. Unfortunately, why this might be the case is relegated to mostly camp dialogue, but essentially the old system allowed even minor nobles to have some say to a degree. Now, in the new system, even their voices are basically not worth listening to. Feeling betrayed and angry, these nobles have started looking towards the Kingdom.

Since the shift from “the Empire is our enemies” to “now the Kingdom and Church are our enemies” is in this chapter, this also changes the focus off these nobles. They are relegated to the side maps instead, where they are defeated unceremoniously for trying to defect. It’s all kinda hush-hush and swept under the rug a bit. 

For what time the route DID give to this issue, it tried to paint it as if the Church was Seiros was preying on these Nobles instead, and that these particular nobles are not the “good ones”. But this is so underdeveloped and more time is spent on the fact that Thunder Catherine is nearby that you would be forgiven for forgetting this little side plot entirely. There were actually some serious consequences to declaring the Alliance a Federation and taking away the republic is once was, and it was just... a little side feature. How terribly disappointing. For a nation’s who’s history is in being a republic with no king, the Alliance was shockingly willingly to jump that ship and be perfectly happy with Claude as king with little issue. It reminds me of SB, where most of the nobles are ok with Edelgard flipping their lives and way of life upside down with little discourse or anger, where our lords have free reign to be tyrannical without the hinderance of examination. 

This chapter’s main battle instead is with the Knights of Seiros, who have been battling Imperial Soldiers and winning. Randolph is here as well, and the mission is to rescue him and his fellow soldiers, and route the Knights. 

Except it’s not, because Claude’s scheme this time is to allow Randolph and his troops to die as bait so that the Federation could encircle Catherine and the Knights. This battle ends with Catherine dying, Randolph dying, and all Imperial and Church soldiers dying. Very few casualties happened to the Federation as a result. 

So to be clear, Claude, who called out Edelgard for using her citizens as meat shields in VW and in Hopes had hoped enemy troops would surrender as to not cause bloodshed (even tried to parlay with Ferdinand), used his newfound allies as bait almost immediately, and did not even allow the Central Church’s forces a chance to surrender or survive the battle at all. 

Claude does make it clear here (to himself) that the Imperial troops aren’t truly allies, since he’s using Edelgard’s army as a means to an end, and he still considers the Imperial troops enemies at the end of the day. However, even his own actions kinda put a bad taste in his mouth - yet, he will continue to move forward. 

I think what makes this so frustrating is that Claude DOES realize his actions are slimy. He even, to a degree, doesn’t like them. 

Edelgard may have been frustrating for never realizing that her actions may be wrong, but that shielded her from Claude’s problem. Claude realizes what he is doing is pretty awful. However, he STILL goes forward with it anyways! He KNOWS better and yet, does not stop! 

Circling back to his allies calling him out, we see a bit of that here. During the battle, Lorenz seems disgusted with the idea of what they had done. Shez and Judith address Claude directly, telling him that he is not instilling loyalty among his allies if they cannot trust him to have their backs. 

This somehow leads to “you need to trust us more” as the primary concern instead of the sacrifices of lives Claude had just done, but it was at least something. It was a bit refreshing to see considering how everyone basically worships Edelgard’s actions nearly all the time in SB. 

Even the narrator says that Claude’s actions will have upcoming consequences, again something Edelgard almost never sees in her own routes, where she is able to sidestep most serious consequences to nearly everything she does and is constantly rewarded instead. 

All that said though... the lesson this chapter wanted to impart was not that “using your ally as bait is probably not a great thing”, but rather that Claude did not tell anyone his plan, nor did he open up to anyone about his plan and so did not take any new ideas in. 

This is at least consistent with what was set up throughout the route - Claude constantly keeping his schemes to his chest and surprising his allies (in a negative way) over and over again. But the lesson learned could not have come at a worst time. Claude should have instead lost allies due to his schemes and their lack of distrust to bring about a lesson of trust and openness. It should not have come from the sacrifice of an ally, and then the sacrifice not be a vital part of a different lesson learned. 

It is absolutely bizarre. 

And then the route immediately forgets about it as no one else talks at length about Claude’s actions. Instead, it goes into how no one in the Federation even cares about the war on the Central Church. And I mean literally no one.

And somehow, this does not signal to anyone that the Church is probably not the power Edelgard or Claude thinks it is.

Let’s pause for a moment to talk about the powers of the different Churches, or at least the Central Church versus the Eastern Church. 

It is made quite clear in Hopes that the Eastern Church is a more passive force. They have no standing army - they are quite literally not allowed to have one by the lord whose territory their base lives on. We meet quite a few NPC priests at the camp from the Eastern Church who have offered their prayers and supports, and convey some tidbits of information. 

You learn that 1) the Eastern Church as little power. And 2) that Claude did not require a blessing from the Church in order to become King, yet the priest insisted just because some people in general may have wanted to see it. 

That’s it. 

If Claude didn’t really need a blessing from the Church, not even the central one, and the Central Church has meddled very little with the Alliance just in general, where is this idea that the Central Church has this iron grip on Foldan even coming from? If anything, the Alliance has neutered any form of the Church in their region to the point that no one even cares about the Central Church at all. 

The characters claim that it was the hard work of the Eastern Church that has allowed the people to not riot over the idea of the Central Church to be dissolved, but is that really what it is? I remain unconvinced. 

Also, Claude has this to say, just after he made a point to kill every soldier in the last battle:

Remember this line. 

---

We have now reached the chapter of this route, chapter 10, where we recruit Byleth or kill Jeralt. Just as in my SB review, Path A will be recruiting Byleth, and Path B will be killing Jeralt moving forward. 

Now one thing I did not touch on in my SB review very much was Byleth or Sothis. I wanted to take the opportunity in this review to rectify that mistake. 

In Hopes, Byleth is a speaking character and not the silent self insert this time, which give Byleth some room to actually express himself without being trapped as being the protagonist. 

I cannot say that it makes Byleth a particularly more interesting character overall, considering his quiet nature and lack of screen time keeps us from really getting a solid sense of who he is as a person. However, we do get to know a few things. 

One is that Byleth is very serious. He clearly lacks social skills, likely due to Jeralt’s upbringing, and so misses sarcasm and jokes, and has a hard time expressing what he really means in a given situation. He gets called a cold person by Leonie for only focusing on the details of a job, rather than making an alternative decision to save the lives of others. 

While he might be hyper-focused on getting whatever job has been given to him to an extreme degree, he is not an unfeeling person as we see when he thinks about the loss of his father and revenge. Byleth expresses that he doesn’t really necessarily seek revenge for Jeralt (if Jeralt dies), although can eventually be convinced by Sothis to follow through with a revenge plot... somewhat. Byleth does care about people, people like his father, and it’s necessarily out to kill for the sake of killing. Even after agreeing with Sothis to get revenge, it is implied throughout the final battle with him that he is fighting Sothis’ control instead of trying to outright destroy Shez, implying that he didn’t really want to follow through with killing him. This is what leads to Shez getting the final blow on Byleth, since Byleth and Sothis were internally fighting for control over the body rather than focusing on the fight. 

Speaking of Sothis, meanwhile, I skipped over this part purposely in my SB review, saving it for this one. Because Sothis is almost a seemingly different character here, while also being a complete wasted opportunity. 

Sothis in Houses is characterized of being a rather harsh, but kind, goddess living inside of Byleth’s head. Since she lacks her memories, she cannot give Byleth a lot of information, and as a result has little to say on the realities of the past or the world at large. She is mean but funny, sharp-tongued but motherly. She handed over her power willingly when the time came, and considered Byleth a separate person from other than herself. 

This Sothis, however, seems to have a bit longer to cook in the oven before she woke up, and thus woke up with either most or all of her memories. And she is ruthless.

She threatens to take over Byleth’s body, calls Byleth a vessel and a glove to be worn. She scorns him, gaslights him into seeking revenge even when Byleth didn’t necessarily want it himself. She knows more than she lets on, but never actually explains anything to Byleth or the player. She even says she is not there to answer questions. 

I know the developers in their interview said they wanted to explore a side of Sothis we didn’t get to see in Houses, but only makes Sothis seem like an uncaring and cruel deity, rather than the snappy mother-figure we had gotten to know and love. Sothis acts in a manner no one would have ever guessed from her portrayal in Houses. 

And it’s even more frustrating is that the devs and the story refuses to engage with her character in any meaningful way, because the devs do not want the players to know about the past, and instead side-step that issue by making Sothis aggressively silent about anything important. 

They even portray Sothis as a bad mother just in general. While in Houses she had the excuse of basically having no memories, here Sothis seemingly has all her memories. She even knows the epithets of the Nabateans in the game (such as the Nabateans who are now Felix’s Shield and Dimitri’s Lance). And yet, she allows Byleth to slay Rhea without so much as a word spoken to them from our perspective. Maybe she did express doubts but... we don’t hear about it. Byleth can just be part of the group that takes Rhea down in both SB and GW, and it seems as if Sothis has condoned these actions on the virtue of being there and saying nothing. 

Sothis is fundamentally wasted potential. The story is so focused on the war at hand that it would rather not engage with revealing more about the Nabateans and their past. I suspect because it would invalidate a lot about what we know about the war, and would therefore give no reason to doubt which side is the “bad side”. 

The Nabateans are basically background characters in both SB and GW, and for a game that is about expanding lore, this is insanely frustrating. 

In fact, there is ultimately a lack of meaningful lore in general. I’ll circle back to this point a bit later. 

I will say, at least, that Sothis is given somewhat of a redeeming moment... if you have recruited Byleth and watch his supports with Shez. In the A support, Byleth will comment that “maybe it was the goddess who said that it was Arval who tried to protect Shez out of love” after the events of the Side Chapters. Of course, the language plays coy, but the line suggests that Sothis was really the one who suggested that Arval had loved Shez (although we do not get to see her say it) and relayed the knowledge to Byleth as an act of kindness. 

It’s not much, but it’s something. 

---

With Byleth and Sothis more or less out of the way, what happens in this route when you decide to recruit Byleth, or to not recruit him? 

Well, like SB, this is meant to be a moment that is harrow for the lords and their companions, as it was their actions that led up to this moment. In SB, it’s Edelgard struggling to keep her vassals in check that led to the death of Randolph. But in GW, it led to the death of Judith. 

While I have harped thoroughly on GW so far, I do have to give some praise to chapter to better a better version of “losing someone” in Path B than SB tried to do. Randolph in SB remains an unexplored and underutilized character who’s most interesting feature is dying in AM as part of Dimitri’s recovery arc. SB did not give him the chance to breath in the narrative, so by the time his death scene rolled around, you find that you really don’t care all that much. It’s sad because the other characters are sad, but as for the player, you never got a chance to get attached.

GW, however, has given Judith time and space to be part of the cast, even if she isn’t playable (which was a missed opportunity to be sure). She’s right there with everyone else, voicing her concerns, laughing, scolding. Everyone loves her, and for good reason - she is charismatic and sort of Claude’s supportive adult-figure. You really do get the feeling that she is a beloved member of the crew, well respected and intelligent, and you yourself get the time to get more attached to her than anything Randolph had to offer. 

Furthermore, the lesson taken from her death in Path B is far more important and meshes better narratively with GW than anything SB tried to drive home. I don’t think there really was a lesson in SB that came with Randolph’s death. It was just one of the many things that happens along the way while trying to put out fires. 

But here, Judith’s death is a direct result of Claude’s foolish and brash actions where he allowed his newfound ally Randolph die in battle just so he could get the upper edge. 

Fleche learns of her brother’s death, and is manipulated by a Slither in disguise (I believe it’s meant to be Myson) into wanting to seek revenge on Claude in return. So she raises a small army of her own and launches an attack on Claude in hopes to assassinate him. She brings along with her Jeralt’s mercenaries, which is how you end up facing Byleth one last time. 

She ends up dying in this battle no matter what your choice ends up being, but if you take Path B, Jeralt also goes down in this battle too, along with Judith. This battle is literally due to Claude’s callous decision to sacrifice Randolph’s life, and this is when a lesson he should have learned back in chapter 9 seems to really pay off. Since Claude should have learned that sacrificing lives as he did was brash, here it comes back full circle and really gives him the chance to realize how badly he fucked up. That he cannot just do such schemes without paying some deep price for it. Frankly, it’s almost accidentally good here. 

But what about Path A? 

Path A unfortunately loses this lesson entirely. In SB, where there wasn’t a lesson to really be had, this difference isn’t as big. But here in GW, it’s a much bigger difference. Since Claude didn’t have to face losing out on the death of someone close to him, the consequences of his actions are significantly neutered.  

In fact, there is almost no reflecting at all, instead the characters are more concerned with Byleth and with Claude not-so-subtly saying how great and wonderful Byleth is and so on and so forth.

Even SB still took some time to reflect on the deaths they at lost regardless.

Regardless of your choice, Judith becomes a non-entity after this in the story anyways. Her only purpose after this moment is to allow for access to Claude’s paralogue. So instead of writing scenes where she continues to exist organically in the story if she lives, she becomes a camp character no different than Randolph.

And I have to dock points off even more for GW not giving Byleth and Jeralt the time they needed in the route. 

When chapter 10 rolls around, Byleth has appeared as an enemy uniquely to GW exactly 2 times. Just two. And in neither case were they has harrowing and terrifying as SB had given him the space to be. 

In SB, Byleth and Jeralt bounce between the Alliance and the Kingdom looking for work until you finally face them in chapter 10. But in GW, they only ever work for the Empire. It does make sense, since the Kingdom had no reason to fight against the Federation  (at least until now), so the Empire hiring them was really the only logical conclusion for this route. 

However, GW actually gets to the skip skip earlier than SB by a chapter, giving Byleth less time in the early part of the war to have a presence at all. So by the time recruiting them came around, you don’t really feel like a proper antagonistic relationship between Shez and Byleth had been set up. 

Frankly, the entire relationship between Byleth and Shez is generally poorly done. 

I remember when I was first playing SB, I wondered what jobs Byleth and Shez had that had them cross paths in the first place. What destiny led them to them crossing blades? What big job was so important that led to their strained relationsh- 

Oh, it was nothing, just a random job from some minor lords in a squabble, that’s it. 

If you were like me, and had watched the trailers and viewed the box art, you probably came away with the conclusion that the rivalry between Shez and Byleth is meant to take center stage. Byleth and Shez face off in the art. They are the biggest characters on the box. They had a whole trailer dedicated to their big fight. 

But it’s ultimately almost entirely meaningless. The big focus is the war- Shez and his beef with Byleth is a side feature that is basically over the moment you recruit him, or comes around for one more big battle with no resolution to who Shez is. The same is true for Sothis and Arval - they actually do not know each other personally, Arval is not a god, and Sothis just thinks Shez is a descendant of the Slithers. 

Oh, and speaking of Shez, do you want to know more about his past and where he might have come from? Did you want to know about his connection with the Slithers more?

I’m afraid you are out of luck here yet again. SB skirted telling the players anything about Shez, teasing it constantly but never revealing anything. It is the same here but even worse - not only do they discuss Shez’s past even less than SB, they even practically throw out the Slithers from the plot except for one chapter. 

Having the Slithers removed from the plot isn’t itself a problem - AM from Houses is a stronger story as a result of the Slithers being side-lined for a more character-driven story. But here, they still devote enough time to Slithers that it feels empty with them nearly gone.

Again, I must circle back to the Crimson Flower comparison. CF suffered because the Slithers were a decent threat but were relegated to “well, we will deal with them after the war is over” and as such, are only mentioned in the epilogues as being defeated in a shadow war. 

It is the same here, were characters like Lysithea talk about the Slithers as a threat that must be dealt with, but unlike SB where Thales appears on the last map to die, the Slithers appear in a single map identical to their SB version, where they are just killing civilians.

For... some reason. Yet again. 

In fact, the GW version is much sillier than the SB version, because in this route the opera company comes to help in the fight. This is just a contrived way to give the players a chance to recruit the allied Dorothea, but right before the battle everyone is slobbering over the idea of meeting the famous singers. At least SB was more serious in what the Slithers were doing from start to finish. 

This is likely to set up the Side Chapters, where Shez faces the Slithers and Arval one last time (and ultimately leads to nowhere), but it feels completely out of place. It’s a single chapter devoted to the Slithers where you learn nothing about them at all, and it was forced upon you in a hasty retreat. 

Yes, you read that right. A retreat. Again. Because you see, Claude and co decide to use Almyran ships to invade the Kingdom by sea. 

----

The next two chapters follow Claude and his companions over the sea to invade the Kingdom and force Dimitri to give up the church, as Claude believes this is the course of action that will lead to the end of the war the quickest. 

This, of course, catches Dimitri off guard because the Federation lacked the naval capability to launch such an assault, his lack of Claude’s Almyran back pockets notwithstanding. 

Chapter 11 has us attacking a fortress in Felix’s territory, where Felix and Rodrigue escape thanks to the sacrifice of Sylvain’s father who came to their rescue, and chapter 12 has us attacking the Kingdom capital directly after that. 

I must say that I found these two chapters particularly frustrating for a number of reasons. 

Firstly, we learn that part of Claude’s plan to invade the Kingdom is to get the Kingdom’s long-time border-sharing, aggressive and antagonistic neighbors, Sreng, to attack in order to tie up many of the Kingdom’s troops. This, in turn, would make their smaller attack force have an easier time to force open the doors to Dimitri. 

Claude spends quite a bit of time discussing how the Central Church, and by extension Foldan, does not allow for any relations with foreign nations. He complains about this, that the people of Foldan are xenophobic as a result of the Church preventing communication through doctrine. He wishes for nothing more than to force the borders open, to have the people of many lands learn from each other and converse freely.

Except his usage of the Sreng (whom he also manipulated into attacking) runs antithesis to these ideals. You cannot claim that people hate each other based on nationality alone and that people need to get along, only to turn around and cause a literal race war so that your own army gains favor in the battlefield. You cannot say those bolster your ideals, or be confused as to why people on the borders don’t like each other. How can a country get over their ancient feuds if you only flame the fires for your own ambitions?

It is no wonder the Kingdom doesn’t like the Sreng, when the Sreng can so easily be tricked into attack when they think they have the chance! 

Not to mention that the side maps consists of mostly routing bandits, who see a chance to cause havoc due to your invasions.

And to top it all off, you kill Sylvain’s father, who died for his friends’ safety. 

And what did Claude have to say about this great sacrifice? 

This is followed by Claude criticizing the Kingdom’s code of chivalry, that it was chivalry that led to the Margrave’s death since he refused to give up or run away, and that he intended to create a world where such sacrifices would not be necessary. 

In other words, this man invaded a foreign land, killed one of their leaders, and blamed their culture for it. Then topped it off with a call to change their culture.

Is that not horrific to think about? Not to mention that it ignores the reality that the Margrave died to protect his friends, not for some code of honor. He did it because he loved them and wanted them safe. But this does not occur to Claude. 

(In fact, the Kingdom’s code of chivalry gets racked across the coals in both SB and GW as something disgusting). 

And then, in chapter 12, Claude forces his way into Fhirdiad to “talk to Dimitri” to get the message into his “thick skull”. Claude had not bothered to send a message to Dimitri prior to this. He simply woke up and chose violence first. 

What is also unsettlingly is the entire cast is on board with this plan. Like in SB, the playable cast sees no issue with invading the lands of those who did nothing to them, killing people along the way. 

At least Dimitri evacuated the city prior to Claude’s invasion. But the lives of those soldiers who defended till the last will be on Claude’s hands, and the hands of his friends who were so excited about what they were doing that they would cheer. 

The frustration goes further than that. I have picked out a few lines that I want to briefly go over. 

In other words, Claude’s plan is to force Dimitri to give up the Church to remove the Empire’s moral crutch for the war. He believes that if the Church is gone, then the Empire will be unable to continue on because their reason for fighting in the first place will be eliminated.

Ignoring that House’s blatantly disproves this logic, Hopes allows Shez to mention that this plan might not work. 

In camp dialogue. 

Shez can rightfully point out that the Empire has intended to unite Foldan as well as remove the Church. After all, Edelgard still plans (by her own admission) to conquer the Federation, just no longer through military means! Not only does Claude openly agree with you, he still goes after the Church and will still continue to insist that the war will be over if the Church goes down! 

And it’s not just him, the other characters firmly believe that the Church, and not the Empire, are at fault.

(Lorenz here is talking about the Margrave and how he died after they invaded).

And after all this, after you force Dimitri into submission and have the entirety of the Kingdom’s capital... you are ordered into a hasty retreat due to that single Slither event I mentioned before.

That’s right. You retreat out of nowhere not once, but twice in this route. 

Not only does it feel artificial, that you would just leave after literally having the Kingdom on their knees like that, but it also feels callous. Remember that line from before, where Claude claims to do this war so that the fewest lives will be lost. Well, how can you claim that if you are so easily able to just run away before securing your victory for good?! All those lives, lost for no reason, since now Claude will have to march on the Kingdom once again in order to get the Church to be driven out.

It’s absolutely appalling that this route praises these actions as heroic and clever, rather than insane and cruel. 

-------

The remainder of the review will be continued in a reblog in the near future, please look forward to it. 

[jess-emurphy]

Alice in Borderland Season 2 trailer breakdown

Hello everyone welcome to my post dissecting the trailer for Alice in Borderland Season 2. Couple things. This will be in two or three parts as Tumblr only allows 10 images. I had to combine some. I’ll link all next parts here.

Second thing, I am autistic, this manga is my special interest. I have been a fan of it since I was around fourteen years old, read it a hundred times, seen the show a dozen times now. I am extremely critical of the show because I love the manga so much and that doesn’t mean I hate change. I just don’t like change that makes zero sense. I like the new games they’ve added, super fun stuff. It was something I was begging them to do since we only saw a few of the face games in the manga. I love the inclusion of more An and Kuina.

Third. MANGA SPOILERS. Obviously. This trailer post is going to be comparing it to the manga, discussing changes, what’s the same etc. If you don’t want spoilers for season 2, do not read. But those who do, enjoy my erratic autistic post. If I could make an hour one video on this trailer I would.

Part Two can be found here

Ok so there’s a chapter in the manga that shows found footage, this is from that chapter most likely. It shows off the lives of the people in the borderlands and how they’re coping with the changes to their lives.

The start of the King of Spades. Couple things to note. On the first image, we see Chishiya is there, just as I thought. Hate this change majorly, it completely messes with the character development of both Chishiya and Arisu. Bad decision from the writers here. At least he gets split apart from the group, that’s  a major plus.

Second and third image, the introduction of the king. Now, again, major changes. The King of Spades, while he would get on the ground, he was mostly a sniper. He was snipe from tall buildings because his bullets allowed him to penetrate even metal (thank you Tatta for that information), seeing him on the ground in jarring but I will say, this could be two completely different parts of the season and they just combined them to throw people off. He could still be a sniper.

King of Clubs game. First image is the group arriving, that looks like a red car in the back so potentially Tatta Lamborghini scene. Writers will add dumb Chishiya content but not my man’s car, writing a complaint as we speak. Usagi is in her yellow shirt so this is right after the encounter with King of Spades, which is manga accurate. An was with them in the teaser trailer so it may be that she either heads off on her own (we see her hiking) or she’s forcefully split from them.

Introduction of best man Kyuuma. Again, they added these scenes to distract me as they quickly added Chishiya in the Jack of Hearts. Actor seems to be great so far for him.

Fourth image is that sort of “final” showdown where Kuina, Arisu and Niragi (on sight when I see you for what you do asshole) do this big plan to get the most points, which we know fails. Interesting small change. In the manga, Usagi lures away one of the guys, which works as we see there’s only thee of them. Then Kuina lures away another and knocks him out. Then Niragi and Arisu charge in as a surprise attack, but here all three of them are charging in. Curious where this goes.

For anyone who hasn’t read the manga but is reading and is curious, Tatta is here but he’s at their base guarding it.

Kyuuma is naked confirmed. Kyuuma big schlong shot when???

The king of Clubs, Queen of Hearts and King of Spades banners.

New game. As seen by the colours and that board, it’s a team game. I believe Usagi is wearing a red shirt this time, so let’s discuss this.

Okay first of all, there’s a lot to discuss here actually. In the manga, after the King of Clubs game, Arisu and Usagi vow to quit the games due to the death of Tatta, which takes a massive toll on Arisu’s mental health. He and Usagi are not seen in the manga as much after that. We get brief chapters of their domestic life, including more glimpses of Arisu’s PTSD hitting him full force. Because Usagi is in a new shirt, this is after the Clubs game. I thought maybe it could be before but it’s not.

Here’s a couple ways this could go.

1: The show ignores the impact of Tatta’s death and what it did to Arisu.

2: Arisu and Usagi do go off to live together but join in the games sooner. In the manga they only join when it comes down to the final game.

3: We see a kid in the trailer. It’s possible someone asks them to join to help the kid make it out safely which, if that happens, I’ll be less annoyed. It makes sense character wise they’d help a kid out.

Okay onto the game itself, that girl we see in the third picture may be one of the face cards. Queen of Clubs? She’s shown in the trailer a few times, I imagine she’s the leader of the reds so probably the Queen. Can’t wait to meet her.

Oh boy okay. Um. Yeah let’s get into this.

Akane is here, yay, from the dialogue she’s probably disabled and we see her game which is good. Okay I’m trying to think of positives. There isn’t much. I hope that’s a platonic hug, I’ll leave it at that.

No Doudou. R.I.P Doudou you would have loved Alvin and the Chipmunks my king.

Kuina up against the King of Spades.

Yeah...again trying to like, find positives here. I’d rather this was just a Aguni and Akane thing, even without Doudou.

Ariana what you doing here?????

Like I don’t hate it??? But why. That’s all I have to ask. Does this benefit either of them for their development????? Is Arisu replacing the Doudou role? I HATE THAT. No, give me Doudou or give me nothing.

The lack of Doudou is really upsetting.

[fang-wolfsbane]

This pretty piece of art was commissioned by my partner from @Miza_Feliz on Twitter (not sure if they have a Tumblr) and even though I'm not a big She-Ra fan, I can still see the amount of effort the artist put into it, and how much my partner likes this ship.

But you know what? Two, not just one, two assholes got on his ass for simply shipping these two characters together. Now tell me, how is that justified? Just because these characters aren't in the same picture with the show's 'approved partners'? Bull.

Let me tell you a little something sweeties, anyone whose watched the show from start to finish will see that Catra hated Adora at the start, and towards the end, you cannot tell me that their relationship wasn't rushed.

Sure, enemies-to-lovers exists, BUT anyone with a sense of plot and any knowledge of basic humanity would know that no one goes from I-hate-you to I-love-you as fast as Adora and Catra did in the last three episodes.

If it wasn't risking getting banned, I'd tag those two assholes right here for all to see, but unfortunately my partner removed the picture on his account because of two ignorant assholes.

Do you wanna know the best part? These two ignorant assholes called him a pedophile for this ship, which if you look closely, does Catra seem underage in this picture? Does Hordak? No, they look like two consenting adults. Not only that, but if you people wanna get on him for putting a character like Catra in the same picture as Hordak, then what about Entrapta, hm? As far as I know, she and Catra are more-or-less the same age, so wouldn't that count as the show itself supporting pedophllia? Because even though Entrapta's in her 30s and Catra was confirmed be in her 20s by the end of the show, they are still children compared to Hordak. But guess what, these two assholes claim to be fans of the show even though Hordak is ancient compared to both Entrapta and Catra! Wouldn't that count as them supporting it then as well? In my opinion, it does, so where's your excuse now you assholes?

Oh, and don't go using mental incapabilities/diseases/restrictions or whatever you wanna call them as an excuse for your behaviour, because I can guarentee you that if I showed this exact picture to people I went to school with (most of which have the exact and worse mental conditions as these effers), they would tell me they see nothing wrong with it.

Catra has been aged up to be more 'age-appropriate' in this picture. Not only that, but if you look at the rest of the art on this artist's Twitter, you'd see there's a bunch of art that's pro LGBTQ+, so if a supporter of that can go and create a heterosexual picture instead of a homosexual one without being forced to do so, then why are you, someone who needs to make someone else feel like shit for their own entertainment, being such a dick about it?

I myself am a LGBTQ+ supporter. My partner has multiple friends in the LGBTQ community. The artist themselves are a supporter of the LGBTQ community, so tell me, do you truly have any ground to say that this picture is homophobic simply because it doesn't conform to what you want to see? Is it pedophilia simply because one of the characters was aged up to ensure that it isn't pedophilia?

How about you go do your research next time, or ask before you make assumptions? And before anyone goes 'oh you don't know what that kind of abuse does' when pedophilia is involved, I know more than you think, and I can bring in people who do that will agree that there's no pedophilia in this picture whatsoever.

So next time you wanna go after someone, especially my partner, about them having a different opinion than you, how about you shut up and think first, if that's not too hard for your opinionated ass.

There's this simple thing of 'if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all'. How about you go take a class in basic human decency?